


As the Curtain Falls

by LittleWatty



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Custom Female Ryder | Sara, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Romance, Smut, not much but its there, please comment the author needs validation, short prompts and drabbles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-10-27 20:07:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 33,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10815804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleWatty/pseuds/LittleWatty
Summary: So! This whole thing has kind of been a back and forth for me. I wasn't originally going to do a lot of work with Kitt and Reyes, but it has gone far beyond what I intended it to be. So... that being said, this is kind of on pause until I figure out what to do with it. I may rewrite the whole thing (with this as the rough draft), or I might make a second work to expand on Kitt and Reyes' story post-Meridian, I haven't decided yet.Stay tuned!





	1. That Moment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kitt's Intro. Before everything. Post-Habitat 7 angst.

There is that old cliche from the 20th century. The one about seeing your life flash before your eyes when you’re about to die? Most never come back from those experiences to be able to say if there is or isn’t anything that happens. Those that get close… well, some say it happened. Others say all they saw was endless blackness. Maybe those who see their lives, their loved ones, all their memories, are the ones with the most regrets. The ones who felt they didn’t quite live up to their potential, so their final moments are filled with the memories they most wished to relive. While those that see nothing… don’t mind the cold, firm grasp that death brings.

Or maybe it’s neither. Science offers very few answers. And even those that do usually are contradicted by this paper, or that religion, or another interpretation. Reality would have it that there is no answer. Only those who have felt their breath leaving their body and lived to tell the tale have answers for themselves. Only those who have seen into their own souls as they were offered up to death itself can know.

As fate would have it, Kitt was among those few.

Clinically dead for 22 seconds, and nothing to show for it. No life flashes. No pearly white gates. No voices from loved ones past. All she had seen was her father’s face… and then there was nothing, as her lungs burned and darkness had taken hold.

Even now, in the hours before starting what was promised to be a new life of hope, all she could see was darkness tinted with blue.

_ “Pathfinder.” _

The voice echoed in her head. Kitt shut it out. She wouldn’t listen to it. She wasn’t the Pathfinder. She didn’t  _ want  _ to be the Pathfinder! That role belonged to her father. That responsibility was something she could never live up to.

_ “Kitt.” _

Her nails dug into the side of her head, pulling hairs from her scalp as she tried to burn away the connection.

_ “Katherine.” _

“Shut up, SAM!!” Try as she might to ignore the blue globe of 1’s and 0’s behind her, the AI was incessant.

_ “Pathfinder, we are on approach to the Nexus. The others are waiting for you at the tram.” _

She wasn’t the Pathfinder. She wasn’t. She couldn’t be. She’d never live up to the glorified role that her father made it. For all the things he was - a decorated commander, an N7, the human Pathfinder - they were too big of shoes to fill. Kitt wanted nothing more than to go back to that moment when he decided to save her life. That moment when her life should have flashed before her eyes. If he had lived, maybe the Initiative would stand a chance.

When Captain Dunn announced their arrival over the comms, Kitt looked over at thee N7 helmet beside her in SAM node. It made her wonder… did her father see his life flash before his eyes? Did he regret anything? She sure as hell didn’t. Not until now.


	2. Eye of the Storm

A buzz filled the Nexus; feet rushing to stations, hushed words whispering rumors, fingers flying over keyboards as they struggled to keep up with the sudden workload. Two teams were now struggling to mingle, getting used to differing systems, learning new names, the works. More often than not, a passerby would mutter something about the delay in the ARK’s arrival. There was little happiness around the news. Mostly resentment. Who could blame them?

For one, Kitt sure as hell couldn’t. What else could go wrong with this shit show? Her father was dead - _dead_ \- and he was the one who built this entire vision. Without him, what hope was there? People kept calling her Pathfinder and it made her stomach turn. No matter how much SAM said that this was her father’s wish, she couldn’t help but argue that he should have asked her first. And no matter how many times she tried to find loopholes there were protocols preventing her from just giving the role to Cora and getting the hell out of dodge.

It only took about thirty seconds for the Nexus leadership to start tearing into her. Barely even got a word in before they were demanding to know what happened to her father, and disregarding anything she might be feeling. She was a nobody. No one cared about her. Even members of her rown team seemed to think their feelings about losing the human Pathfinder were more important than her feelings about losing her father. They weren’t close, but…

“This seat taken?”

Kitt looked up to see the Turian militia leader motioning to the spot on the floor beside her. The crates around her had hidden her away for the most part - he likely saw her beeline for the spot after she’d finally gotten away from the others. No one else had noticed her.

“Yeah.” Her voice was quiet, muted like her mood had been, but it only seemed to deter him a little. Not enough to chase him away.

The turian awkwardly sat down - what was his name again? It reminded her of the word train… Tiran? Maybe. “I know that look. The others bent your ear, did they?”

She huffed, resting her chin on her knees. “Something like that.”

“You get used to it. Addison hates everyone, and Tann was never meant to lead the Initiative. Or anyone, for that matter. I’m not sure any of them know how to handle human emotions.”

“What do you mean? Addison’s human.”

“Really? Could have fooled me.” Even if she didn’t mean to, Kitt choked out a laugh.

“Sounds like they’re perfect for each other. Maybe a few drinks, and we play match maker? Maybe they can pull the stick out of each other’s asses.”

He returned a laugh. “You’re not bad, for a human. Not many good examples in Andromeda so far.”

“I guess this place makes people show their true colors, huh?”

“Their colors?” The turian just blinked at her.

“Sorry, human phrase. Under stress, people tend to show their true selves. Who they are behind their mask. That kind of thing.”

His mandibles clicked before he nodded, musing on the idea. “I suppose you’re right. So what does that make you?”

“A puddle of Hanar goo?”

The repeated laughter from behind the storage crates full of who knows what eventually attracteed attention. Tiran Kandros - as she did learn his name was eventually - was not very good at telling jokes, but he was good at feeding her ego when she told her terrrible ones. They were equally bad at humor. Kitt was almost in stitches when one of her crew finally rounded the corner to their hiding spot.

“Pathfinder? The ship that Director Tann had prepared for us is about ready to leave.” Cora. Always the killer of moods. Maybe they’d get along better with time, but right now she didn’t particularly want to see the woman. Especially not when every other topic seemed to be Alec Ryder.

She didn’t want to be the Pathfinder. All she wanted was to sit here behind these crates, joking with a turian she didn’t even know, until she could forget everything that had happened. The thoughts must have been plainly spoken on her face because Kandros held her arm after he helped her stand. “Just focus on being a Pathfinder. Can’t argue with results - even if they try. You’ll be fine.”

It wasn’t much, but it helped. “Thanks, Kandros. Duty calls.”

“You and me both, Pathfinder.”


	3. Recurring Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the Eos vault and establishing Podromos, Kitt has some time for introspection.

The cloud swirled around, closer, tighter, choking off her air as she tried to run. She was bound, unmoving, trapped as death encroached. Everyone was gone. Her team had fled. A vent opened nearby, singing her cheek with the searing pink flames. It was over. This was it. She would die under the deserts of Eos, accomplishing nothing. It was all a waste. Habitat 7. The Initiative. The Tempest and her crew. None of it mattered. The desintigrating cloud surrounded her vision, promising a slow and painful erasure from time itself.

Burning and searing pain created in her mind pulled Kitt out of her dream, as it had done for the past few nights since activating the vault under Eos. The haggard rise and fall of her chest was the only movement in the room. There was no smoke from the dream that interrupted her sleep. The searing pain she thought she felt vanished as if it’d never existed - which of course it didn’t. It was a dream. Some construct of her stressed mind.

With a sigh, she laid back down on the bed and pulled the covers up over her head. Closing her eyes only brought the images back again; flesh and bone being eaten by the purifying smoke. A loud grunt and she threw the sheets off, getting out of bed to dress, and exiting the prefab structure that served as a temporary place for the Tempest team to rest. No one else seemed to be awake, except, apparently, Kallo. The lights around the airlock of the Tempest told her at least one person was inside, and she assume it was the pilot.

No one would notice if she took the Nomad for a quick spin. With SAM as a constant companion, what could go wrong?

_“Several things, Pathfinder.”_

“Hush, SAM, I didn’t ask you.” Kitt grumbled, pulling the door shut and sealing the latch. The radiation hadn’t completely left the atmosphere, so it was better safe than sorry. No riding with the hood down.

The entire planet seemed to stand still in the dead of night. No wind to rustle the plants, no animals to disturb the sand, no fish in the water, absolutely nothing. The place might as well be a painting.

Up on the hill overlooking the valley and Podromos, Kitt found her own little haven at the edge of the remnant structure she used to stabilize the planet and activate the vault. No one ever went up there. Most were still afraid of robots popping out of nowhere, but that wasn’t so much a risk anymore. There were worse things to deal with but none of them were ever this close to the settlement. So it offered sanctuary if one was willing to risk a little low key radiation exposure.

Even as she laid back in the sand, it seemed as though the skies were clearing before her eyes, letting new stars peer back at her through the seemingly endless blackness. There were so many promises laced through those lights. New beginnings, a paradise beyond belief, home… All of which had fallen flat.

The struggles of the Initiative were now her struggles. Their pains, her pains. Their problems, now unfortunately her problems. It was her father that was supposed to be leading these missions, making the decisions that would affect the lives of everyone from the Milky Way, not her. Never her. She didn’t want this. She didn’t ask for this. How did he ever think this was a good idea?!

Kitt sighed and sat up, brushing her hand through the sand beside her. Whatever could have been it was too late now. Her father had given up his life to save hers - as stupid as that decision had been - and now she had to live with his mistakes. There would be no help coming from a dead man. A ghost of the past she wanted to leave behind. It would upset Chris, sure, but there was little love lost between her and her estranged father.

Maybe that’s what made this so weird for her. Chris had always been his favorite - maybe because they always saw eye to eye. Kitt had pined for that same attention. Even went so far as to try and get into the N7 program. But that failed, just like everything else around her seemed to, and it was only made worse when her father’s actions ostracized the entire family. And yet, he trusted her more than his own second.

_“Pathfinder, your life support is reaching a critical point. Might I suggest returning to Podromos?”_

A rock bounced down the cliff in front of her, followed by the few more that she nudged after it, listening to the sound almost echo in the stagnant emptiness. Her shields were starting to tingle with the stress of the radiation mounting. “Yeah, I guess.”

The sun wouldn’t be up for a few hours yet, according to Suvi’s calculations, but Kitt doubted that she would get much more sleep that night. Bad dreams.


	4. Tending an injury - Prompt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the end of A People Divided
> 
> Sweet and Affectionate prompts #26

“I’m seriously beginning to regret this decision…” Kitt hissed, slumping against a rock with her good shoulder. The muscles of her left arm were twitching, small spasms that prevented her from moving the arm in any one direction. The point where the tip of the knife where it scraped against the bone of her shoulder blade was what made it worse. It was the kind of pain that sent chills down her spine. She had turned her back on Farah for just a second, but it was enough for the Roekar to put the knife she’d murdered so many with into her back.

The rest of her team was pretty quick to her side once the coast was clear, but the cave went deep. There could be others lurking in the dark. “You should sit down, Kid, that looks bad.” Drack hoisted his hammer up over his shoulder while Vetra helped the Pathfinder sit, making sure she didn’t lean back on the blade accidentally.

“What’re you talking about? I’ll be fine.”

_“The wound is superficial, and has avoided any major blood vessels. Though the bone has taken some damage, it is not fractured. If allowed proper time to heal, there should be no prolonged impairment.”_

“See?” Kitt grinned at the rest of her team, but they didn’t seem convinced. Just to prove a point, she reached and grasped the blade to pull it out.

_“I do not recommend this course of action, Pathfinder. Until immediate first aid can be applied, the blade must remain in place. Once removed, there is nothing to stem your bleeding and you may pass out.”_

With a loud groan, she released it and just let herself rest against the rocks. “Well, we can’t just sit here and wait for more Roekar to come pouring out of those tunnels.”

“And you can’t move until Lexi has a look at you,” Vetra made the quick comeback.

“Well, Lexi isn’t here. So unless one of you has experience patching up stab wounds, we’re at an impasse.”

“If I may,” the whole reason they were there stepped forward, a glint of amusement in his eyes. “I could offer my services. Though your doctor is certainly more adept at patching wounds than myself, it seems we have few options. That leaves the two of you to clear out the last of the caves.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Come on, Vetra. If the smuggler wanted to hurt the Kid, he could have just left us.” Even though Drack was one of her longest running contacts, Vetra still didn’t seem much convinced as she clicked her mandibles.

“Why don’t you listen to your big friend there and run along, hm?”

The turian looked at Kitt, and she nodded. “I’ll be alright. We need to clear out the caves, and I can’t really go with you like this.”

“If you say so. SAM, make sure to call us if anything happens to her.”

_“Of course.”_

“Relax. I’m on your side.” Reyes’ smirk never left his lips while the two of them went off deeper into the caves. Drack didn’t seem to mind, but Vetra kept looking over her shoulder until they were out of sight.

“Quit antagonizing my crew,” Kitt teased him, shaking her head. “They already don’t trust you. You’re only making it worse.”

That just made him laugh. “Oh, please, Ryder. I’m perfectly likeable.”

“Perfectly.” She started to laugh, but winced when it caused the blade to move. “Guess I’m in your hands now, aren’t I?”

“Don’t say that like it’s such a bad thing.” Reyes removed his gloves and pushed up his sleeves as far as they would go while she laid down on her stomach. Instead of getting to work like she expected, he stood up “There’s bound to be supplies around here somewhere. You don’t just live on Kadara without being prepared.”

“Says the man who lives on Kadara and isn’t prepared.”

“You wound me, Ryder. After all that effort to perfectly time that explosion. Aha! Jackpot.” Kitt repositioned just enough to glance back and see him trotting over with a handful of medigel packs and some compression wraps.

_“Mr. Vidal, I suggest preparing the medigel before you remove the blade, to limit the bleeding.”_

“Thank you, SAM, but I do know what I’m doing.” His comment made Kitt wonder just how much experience patching up wounds Reyes had. She watched while he measured out a few arm lengths of the wraps, tore it with a knife from his boot, and then did it again. Once satisfied, he cracked open the medigel and took hold of the blade. “This is probably going to hurt. Ready?”

Kitt swallowed. “Yeah.”

“Count to three.”

“One, t-- _son of a bitch!_ ” White flashed behind Kitt’s eyes as she dug her forehead into the ground against the pain. Reyes yanked the angaran blade out of her back before she had mentally prepared herself. Probably better that way, but she would still smack him for it. Almost as soon as the heat of pain erupted through her back, the cool soothing of the medigel followed.

"Better?" he asked, just beside her ear.

Kitt's repsonse came more as a grunt than anything. "Better." The gel foamed and began to set as she pushed herself back up into a sitting position. Every nerve inside her shoulder was firing with pain as she moved, making the world spin and the metallic taste of blood settle on her tongue. Before she realized it, Reyes had his arms around her and was helping her settle back against the rocks.

"Not so fast, Pathfinder. We're not done yet. Take your armor off."

For a moment, she just stared at him wondering if she'd heard him right. When he returned an expecting look it just baffled her more. "Excuse me?"

"Take your armor off," he repeated, entirely serious. "Your doctor won't be too pleased if they find a shotty patch job when you return. So. Take your armor off."

"You haven't even paid me back for the drink you owe me, and you're already asking me to strip," Kitt scoffed, trying not to use her bad arm as she hit the latches that held everything together. Unfortunately, she could not reach everything. "A little help?" She motioned with a finger towards the latches on the far side of her back. There was a gentle nudge, and the last few latches came free. With Reyes' help, they lifted her chest piece up and over her head without having to move her bad arm too much. Goosebumps prickled her skin as brief shots of lightning traveled through her shoulder, but it was better than before.

Leaning on her one good arm, Kitt did her best to steady her breathing. Her mind went back to Lexi's yoga instructions. Just focus on the in, and the out. In, and out. The pain throbbed, but it would ebb away once this was over. She just had to take it one breath at a time.

There was a brief moment when she almost yelled at Reyes again as he tore her skinsuit where the knife had gone through. "What're you doing?"

"Relax, Pathfinder. I'm just getting a better look at your wound, in case it needs more medigel. Lucky for you, I'm good at what I do. It looks like it sealed on the first go."

"Great, so can I put my armor back on now?"

"Not so fast. You won't be moving that arm any time soon. Your doctor will likely agree with me on that one. So just stay still, won't you Ryder?" Kitt just grumbled under her breath as he pressed a wad of the compression wrappings against the hardened medidgel. One band at a time, he wrapped the cloth over the wound and around her chest to keep everything in place.

"Why not just leave it up to the medigel?" she muttered after a few wraps.

"Because it doesn't always hold. Sure, it works great now, but if the seal breaks and you start bleeding again, there's nothing to stop the blood. This is way is better safe than sorry."

"Yeah, but--"

"No buts, Ryder. If you make me, I will carry you back to the Tempest myself." Kitt snapped her head around to look over her shoulder at him. Of course, the smuggler was smirking. Oh so pleased with himself.

As a result of his jests, she hushed up and allowed him to finish what he was doing. A round of tight bindings and a makeshift sling later, he finally let her stand on her own two feet again. The world tipped a little, but a firm hand on her good arm helped steady her. "Better?"

"Better." Kitt inhaled through her nose, letting her balance settle and her nausea pass before she opened her eyes again. If he hadn't been there, she probably would have just gotten herself into more trouble, and Lexi wouldn't let her live that down. More likely than not, she'd have been put on house arrest until the wound healed. As it was now with Reyes' help, she might only have to spend a few days in the port before Lexi gave her permission to go back on normal duty. Certainly a better alternative. "Thank you, Reyes."

A smile lit up his face as she settled back against a rock to wait as the rest of her team came walking up. "A pleasure, Pathfinder. It was the least I could do after you so expertly helped clear Kadara of the Roekar. You did good. Don't worry. I'll let all the important people know who to thank. It was your fancy AI that did all the hard work, after all."

Kitt snorted at him. "Yeah. Because he's so useful in a firefight." Profiles aside. "Buuuut, you didn't do too bad yourself, smuggler. We make a good team."

While she watched him, breath stuck in her throat, he took a step closer. Her eyes were locked onto his, having a difficult time looking away while he hovered so close. "Careful. I'll start thinking you like me."

"Would that be so bad...?" Her breath caught in her throat at her own words. Internally she scolded herself for saying that, but honestly? Reyes made her want to keep coming back to the port whether they had missions or not. Whatever was there, it wasn't a business relationship. The hardest part was figuring out if he was just playing along.

Where he stood, so close that she could almost feel his breath on her cheeks, she wondered if it wasn't just a game. Yet the smirk that played on his lips made her wonder otherwise. "Depends. Don't be a stranger, Pathfinder." And away he went. Without even looking back, he made his way up the stairs and out the entrance to the hideout. Kitt couldn't help but watch him go. Maybe Vetra had been right when she called Kitt out before the fight. Maybe there was something going on.


	5. Precious Cargo

“It’s… empty.”

“What do you mean it’s empty?!” Kitt groaned, rubbing her forehead, looking into the crate to see for herself that there was nothing inside the empty box. “You mean, after all that effort, there’s nothing to show for it? And here I was hoping to finally get a decent payday. Wonder if Zia already sold the cargo and ran?”

The idea didn’t seem to sit well with Reyes, unconvinced that the woman had already flipped it. “Or, there was never any cargo to begin with.”

“Bravo.” The sound of a third voice drew both of their attention, an unknown woman walking down the stairs from above, clapping in mock congratulation. “I knew you’d figure it out eventually.”

“Zia.” Kitt snapped her head back at Reyes, then turned back to look at the woman, then back at Reyes.  _ This _ was his ex? Well, the sass made sense, that was something he’d certainly expect from one of his exes. But that perfect winged eyeliner? Damn.

“You never could resist a big payout.”

“What can I say? I’m a greedy man.”

“That’s why you don’t have any friends. You’re selfish.”

Before Reyes could snap back with some sassy response, Kitt took a single step towards Zia to place herself between them. “Enough with the awkward third wheel here. Why don’t you shut your trap and stop slinging insults while you’re the outnumbered one? Whatever you’ve got against Reyes, he’s a good man.”

“Oh, honey,” Zia laughed, resting her hands on her hips in such confidence, you’d think she’d already won. “You have no idea how wrong you are. But you will.”

The crate behind her opened from, the top, a mercenary reaching over with an arm around her neck and a pistol to the side of her head. She lurched, but his hold was firm, and the pressure of his arm choked off her air until she struggled to breathe. No chance to grab a weapon for herself, and when Reyes drew in her defense, Zia pointed her gun at him.

“Leave her out of this,” he snapped, venom dripping from his words so heavy that her blood curdled. Even the man behind her flinched, though his hold did not loosen. 

This whole situation amused the woman. “You must really like this one, Reyes,” her word dipped into a mocking purr, turning and looking Kitt up and down from a distance. Now she really wanted to kick that bitch’s teeth in. “Has he told you his pretty little secret?”

Reyes flinched, visibly. There was something here that Zia knew but she didn’t, and it was something he hadn’t been willing to tell her. That did not sit well in Kitt’s gut.

“Cut the shit. What’s this all about?” He spared a glance back to his ex, momentarily distracted, but never moved his gun away from Kitt and the merc. It wouldn’t take much to get out of this hold, but so long as the woman had her gun trained on Reyes, she wasn’t going to risk it. Her biotics could only move so fast, and bullets move faster.

“You’ve been taking all the good jobs in Kadara. It’s gotten more than  _ my  _ attention.”

Whatever she knew still threatened overhead, but Reyes did seem to ease a little, lowering his weapon to turn fully towards Zia. “So, what? The local smuggling union got together and decided to take me down?”

She, however, did not lower her pistol. “Something like that.”

“Ah, shit.” The situation was just getting worse and worse for Reyes as he rubbed his forehead. Kitt knew that look - he was trying to think of a way out of this situation.

“It was smart to bring a Krogan with you, sweetie, but wasn’t so smart to leave him outside. You’ve got two options here, Reyes. You hand over your operations and she walks.” Both Kitt and Reyes soured with the ultimatum. She was ballsy for starting this confidently. But Kitt wanted answers. Whatever this little secret was that he had been hiding from her - and considering he  _ promised  _  he would not keep secrets, and she was confident of her escape, then this took priority. 

“Or?”

“Or… you walk away and your pretty little Pathfinder doesn’t leave this shack.”

The heart of the matter, and a situation that she didn’t know how he would respond. All eyes were on him. There was a very distinct possibility that he could leave, knowing full well that Zia would try to kill her. Or he could stay, and he would be someone that she never really expected him to be.

When he failed to meet her eyes, her heart dropped down into her stomach, thoughts running wild with the image of him walking away, turning his back on her. Leaving. The blood left her face and it earned Zia’s scornful laughter.

“Well? You must be losing your touch, Reyes. You used to be such a smooth talker… right up until you dumped me.” There was such disdain in her tone, insulting and talking him down like he was filth. Whatever happened between them had been bad. But Reyes’ continued silence almost made her believe that whatever hate had come up between them might have been well earned.

He heaved a sigh that shook his bones. “Alright.” In the back of her mind she knew he was going to walk out. This was Reyes, smuggler, who always prioritized his own hide over everything else. Hell, there wasn’t even information about him in the Nexus files, something Kitt was half convinced he’d done himself.

But the events that followed his words followed another aspect of Reyes’ personality. Unpredictable. Reyes lifted his sidewinder and shot the man over Kitt’s shoulder. No hesitation, no flinch, not even a worry that he might accidentally hit her. Or he didn’t care.

In that moment of surprise, Kitt dropped under the dead man’s arms, throwing her biotics at Zia and the others that came from within the large crates scattered through the building. A loud bang echoed on the locked door to the outside, and again, until Drack came barrelling through with Vetra hot on his heels. In the chaos, she lost sight of Zia, but the only thing she could worry about was not getting shot.

The fight was over quickly with the four of them working together. Drack made sure Kitt was alright before he joined their comrades in checking the remaining crates for any stragglers. A single shot told her they found at least one still alive.

“Alright, spill it,” Kitt interrupted Reyes as he searched a corpse. “What was she talking about?”

Apparently not finding what he was looking for, he sighed and stood. “It was nothing. Just some troubled past.”

“You promised me no secrets, Reyes.” The sick feeling in her gut refused to leave, but she wanted to trust him after what he did, after he risked everything just to try and save her. Even though he shot at her. And even though it might have just been some revenge against an angry ex.

He sighed, giving her the most exhausted look she’s seen on his face to date, the bags sitting heavy under his eyes. “The last time Zia and I saw each other, I left her to die for the sake of a payout. There, that’s the big secret. Happy?”

Well, it wasn’t entirely unexpected, but she had a feeling there was something else he wasn’t telling her. Something else that Zia knew about that he wasn’t saying. But there was no proof, and he did tell her something that made sense, it explained her anger, and hell, Kitt would have wanted to kill him for that too.

“Was it worth it?”

The jaded laugh that left his lips spoke of the irony. “There ended up being no cargo in the end. The box we heisted was empty. It was a setup. I supposed I should have seen this coming from her.”

“Do you know where she went…? I don’t know where she…” Reyes pointed over his shoulder without looking. In the back, tucked mostly behind a crate, she saw the woman’s body and the blood that splattered the wall behind it. That wasn’t a shot she took, and she was fairly confident neither Drack nor Vetra had done it. “I’m sorry.”

It was clear he was doing his best to shrug it off. “I knew I wasn’t popular, but I never thought the other smugglers would team up against me. Kind of flattering, actually.”

“You and I both know that’s not what I’m saying sorry about.”

A loud sigh, but he moved away from the bodies, back towards the door that had been busted open in the fight. The heat started to permeate the air, soon the bodies would begin to smell, and the local wildlife would show up. “All that effort, and no credits to show for it.” Still avoiding the subject.

“Reyes… I’m not here just for the credits.”

At least it made him look up and offer a smile. “What you said back there… about me being a good man? Thank you.”

“I meant it. She was no good for you anyway. Too bitter.” She meant it in a teasing tone, trying to lift his spirits, but it only earned half a laugh.

“I should clean up this mess. Zia was a piece of work, but… it feels wrong to leave her out in the open.” There was a solemn look in his eyes. A piece of his past had died here, a past that Kitt still knew so little about, but she wasn’t going to push him if he wasn’t ready. They could talk more about this later.

“You sure?”

“Go on, I’ll take care of this.”

He stood there, frozen, a statue vigilant over their bodies while Kitt and her team walked back to the nomad. The building cast him in shadow, even as they drove off, he hadn’t moved. It couldn’t help but make her wonder how important Zia had really been to him, and how far they would have had to fall for this to happen… for him to be willing to end her life. Could that happen to her…?


	6. You have new email, Pathfinder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post Precious Cargo, Pre Night on the Town
> 
> (queued to be deleted and reposted)

_“You have new email, Pathfinder.”_

It seemed like every time she set foot on the Tempest, someone was asking for her attention. She could barely get any free time before someone else was asking to see her, or another was requesting help. This or that. Or Lexi telling her to make sure she keeps up with her meditations, and her eating. It had gotten so bad that the monotone phrase from SAM gave her a migraine almost every time. Instead of going to check it on the bridge right away, she opted to take a nap in the Nomad where no one would look for her. Peace, and quiet.

She had just gotten comfortable in the back seat when her implant pinged again. _“There are new emails at your terminal, Pathfinder.”_

Might as well see Lexi about getting a shot of something for the migraine that was sure to follow. Kitt groaned, hopping back out of the vehicle and heading aft. Passing by the med bay, she motioned for Lexi to get something for her. “You know, this is why I tell you to meditate. Honestly, Kitt, you should try.”

“There’s only so much time in the day, Lexi.”

It exasperated the asari. “We’re in space, Kitt! There is no such thing as day.”

“You know what I mean!” She was all grins as she backed through the open door to her quarters, and watched it close. It may or may not have been enough to convince Lexi to bring her a shot or some pills, but she had to try. SAM was great sometimes, but one thing he could learn was how to be quiet sometimes.

As expected, the little light on her personal monitor was blinking beside the SAM router. Heaving a sigh, she sat down and started flipping through them. More orders from Lexi. A request for an appearance by Keri. And… _oh,_ this was interesting.

 

_Subject: About Zia_

 

It made Kitt curious, and there was no hesitation to open it.

 

_To: Katherine Ryder_

_From: Reyes Vidal_

_In case you were wondering…_

_My taste in women has improved since I ended things with her._

_Reyes_

 

The way he said it made her laugh. This could be fun. Kitt cracked her knuckles and started typing a reply.

 

_Re: About Zia..._

_To: Reyes Vidal_

_From: Katherine Ryder_

_Oh, I’m sure it has. Though, there doesn’t seem to be much evidence of that. You’re spending an awful lot of time around me._

_Ryder_

 

Maybe she was selling herself short, but self-deprecating humor was something she was good at. As long as SAM didn’t learn the same habit, maybe his humor algorithm would have a chance at developing some pretty nice jokes. She turned to discuss humor with her AI companion, using it as a distraction while she waited for a reply. Assuming there would be one. Truth be told, she doubted he was even monitoring his terminal for a reply. He was a busy man, or so he always made himself out to be.

Until there was a blip on her monitor only a few minutes later. “Don’t even say it, SAM,” she warned before turning back to it.

 

_Re: About Zia…_

_To: Katherine Ryder_

_From: Reyes Vidal_

_It is too bad you think so little of yourself. And worse, me! Something that will have to change, certainly. There are a number of things I can think of._

_Reyes._

 

_Re: About Zia..._

_To: Reyes Vidal_

_From: Katherine Ryder_

_Be careful, Smuggler. I might think you were suggesting something unfit for a Pathfinder. Besides, We will be unable to visit Kadara for a little while yet. We’re headed to Elaaden to assist the Krogan colony._

_Ryder_

 

Kitt sighed when she sent the follow up. It was an unfortunate fact, but her role as Pathfinder always comes first. Even if she wanted to stay. Kadara made her feel alive. Among… other things. “SAM, what did my dad do for fun before?” she asked, leaning back in her chair and resting her head in her hands.

_“Unfortunately, your father did not spend much time with hobbies or other activities. Most of his attention was spent on my construction and establishing a foundation for the Initiative. ‘Fun’ was not among his priorities.”_

“Figures.” It was just like her father to be that way. No time for anything but work. Nothing could take his attention away from it. Even family. Kitt didn’t want to be that way. Reyes… he made her fight for something. He made her fight for herself. A smile twitched on her lips. That smuggler did the strangest things to her. Made her head swim, and her heart flutter. Exactly what happened when her monitor notified her again.

 

_Re: About Zia…_

_To: Katherine Ryder_

_From: Reyes Vidal_

_You know, Pathfinder, there are other options._

_Reyes_

 

The possibilities made her heart rate rise by a few notches. Being good with words was one thing. This was entirely different. The temptation was certainly there. She might not need the medication for her headache after all.

_“Pathfinder, your face is flushed and your heartrate has risen by 15bpm. You may be ill. Should I notify Doctor T’perro?”_

“No, SAM. Don’t you dare. The only thing you will be telling Lexi is that my, eh…. ‘meditations’ helped chase away my migraine. That’s it. Nothing else. Alright?”

_“Of course, Pathfinder.”_

Kitt chewed on her lip as she composed the next email.

 

_Re: About Zia..._

_To: Reyes Vidal_

_From: Katherine Ryder_

_Oh, do please elaborate. What other ‘options’ did you have in mind?_

_Ryder_

 

_Re: About Zia…_

_To: Katherine Ryder_

_From: Reyes Vidal_

_Does that fancy ship of yours have a vidcom? It could come in handy._

_Reyes_

 

One thing she cursed Kallo for with their “perfect” ship design. No private channels. No way to… have a quiet conversation with Reyes, even if she wanted to. The closest option she would have is to order everyone on lockdown in their quarters. And that wouldn’t go over well at all.

 

_Re: About Zia..._

_To: Reyes Vidal_

_From: Katherine Ryder_

_One of the few things lacking from this impressive ship. Maybe we improvise? There are other ways of letting you see what you do to me._

_Ryder_

 

Now, what was the best way of jerry-rigging her omnitool to get the right angle? Sexy, but not too revealing. Just a tease. _“Pathfinder,”_ SAM interrupted her fiddling. _“You have a new email from Director Tann.”_ Buzz kill.

 

_Subject: Proper use of messaging services_

_To: Katherine Ryder_

_From: Jarun Tann_

_Pathfinder,_

_It has come to my attention that some scandalous emails have been exchanged using the Tempest’s messaging services. Might I remind you that your email terminals are the property of the Initiative, and as such are observed by security officials. I trust you will not make the same mistake again._

_Director Tann_

 

The email made her laugh, all the way down into her belly. Oh, this was too good. So many things were going through her mind, and none of them involved her cooperating with Tann. But there were things that she didn’t want other people seeing. Unfortunately that meant she and Reyes couldn’t explore those ‘options’ he had in mind. Still… didn’t mean she couldn’t screw with Tann and the bureaucrats that were basically spying on her and her crew.

Unwrapping her scarf and unzipping the front of her jacket, Kitt plumped up her breasts until her cleavage perked up over her zipper. Just a little hint of bra peeking. Just barely tasteful, but it would get the job done. Just a quick snap, and a quick email.

 

_Re: About Zia..._

_To: Reyes Vidal_

_From: Katherine Ryder_

_One attachment_

_Before you get too excited… unfortunately there are third parties on this channel. But perhaps this will whet your appetite._

_Ryder_

 

Kitt might have even paid to see the look on whatever cronie’s face had to open _that_ image. There would be an earful for that one, but it was worth it. Just enough to tease that sassy smuggler, and a jab at Tann and his rules, all in one shot. Consequences be damned.

 

_Subject: Call me_

_To: Katherine Ryder_

_From: Reyes Vidal_

_Your cruelty knows no bounds, Ryder. Fortunately, I owe you something special after you helped with Zia. And the roekar. I think I found just the thing. Give me a call when you have a minute._

_Reyes_

 

_Re: Call me_

_To: Reyes Vidal_

_From: Katherine Ryder_

_We’re just docking on Elaaden. Unfortunately, a call will have to wait. The Krogan need me more than you do, I think. I’ll be in touch._

_Ryder_

 

_Re: Call me_

_To: Katherine Ryder_

_From: Reyes Vidal_

_I wait with baited breath. Don’t take too long._

_Reyes_

 

It would have been nice If she could have just gone back to Kadara. Forget about her responsibilities for once. They were responsibilities she didn’t ask for in the first place, so how bad could it be if she just walked away for a little while? Her father didn’t know how to have fun - Kitt had no intentions of turning into him. But when she saw Drack and how worried he was for the colony, she just had to sigh and disembark with her team to solve the next set of problems for the Initiative.


	7. Reading a book together - prompt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Between Precious Cargo and Night on the Town
> 
> Nonsexual Acts of Intimacy Prompt ♝

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Time Traveler's Wife © Audrey Niffenegger and MacAdam/Cage

When it came to traveling to a new galaxy, finding a new home, there were certain things that Kitt had prepared for. Wheeling and dealing with new alien species, even going into combat against them; exploring new and dangerous places that had never once been seen by human eyes; getting lost among stars that were not her own. But the one thing that she  _ should _ have expected, she didn’t - with a new galaxy, came new bugs. 

Transitioning from Voeld to Kadara, to Elaaden, back to Voeld so quickly had done her immune system no favors. Even though the Angara had seen any number of viruses and bacteria and whatever else might be lurking around to make the new Milky Way residents sick, they could only offer so much medical help. When Kitt came down with flu like symptoms, the best they could do was diagnose the virus and let Lexi figure out the rest.

Much to her own disdain, Kitt was quarantined in her own quarters for a minimum of 48 standard hours. After that point, the medics on Aya assured Lexi and the rest of the Tempest that she would no longer be contagious. Still, they recommended no skin to skin contact for another 96 hours. Her symptoms still hadn’t passed after that time and she was still stuck on mandatory bed rest.

“Lexi, pleeeaaaase….” she coughed into her omnitool, burrowed under the heavy blankets of her bed, despite the fever behind her forehead. “I won’t leave the ship, I promise… I just need a favor…”

“There is no reason for us to go to Kadara  _ except _ for you to leave this ship. That will not be happening.” Lexi’s voice was firm and unforgiving. If there was one thing she didn’t mess around with, it was the health of the Tempest team, even if that did grate some nerves occasionally.

“Drack lives in the galley - he can make sure I don’t leave. Please, Lexi? Unlock SAM so the Tempest can go??”

The asari audibly groaned over the comms. It only took her a minute to walk in through Kitt’s door and go right over to SAM’s glowing blue router. “If you so much as step one foot out of this room, I’m going to tie you down in med bay.”

“Relax, Doc. I thought I wasn’t your type.” Kitt only grinned for a moment before the coughs overtook her again and Lexi had to help her swallow a glass of water to calm them.

“Just take it easy. You’re not contagious anymore, but your body is still recovering.”

“I’ll be alright,  _ Mom _ .” She sighed and leaned against Lexi’s side for a moment. All she wanted was company, but with the Pathfinder out of commission, the Nexus had assigned all sorts of other tasks to her team. Including going out and doing what she couldn’t.

A simple command from SAM, and the Tempest broke from the orbit of the ice planet below. All those dreaded blizzards and slicks of frozen oceans left behind, at least for the moment. One day they’d no doubt be back, but for now they would be somewhere warmer. Better. Once Lexi had left her to bury into the heat of her blankets, Kitt took a moment to compose a message, it was, after all, the only reason she was going to Kadara. 

Her words were simple.  _ I need you on the Tempest. _ No other context. No EETA was needed - Kitt knew well enough that Reyes would be watching the docks for any interesting activity. The Tempest was always interesting activity. So few in the port trusted her yet, so word would travel quickly, and it would bring that smuggler on board even quicker. She hoped.

Sometime between their jump to FTL speeds, and their arrival at Kadara Port, Kitt had fallen asleep. So soundly, that the gentle hum of the engines as they worked to land hadn’t woken her up. The quiet hiss of the door was ignored. The quiet discussion at the door, and the rolling laughter of a Krogan, lost in her own dreams. It was only the gentle shift of weight on her bed that caused her to stir. Kitt held onto her stubborn sleep and the peace it brought for the moment.

Teasing words whispered into her ear, tickling the recesses of her mind where she was lost, an unfamiliar language but a voice that warmed her chest like honeyed whiskey. The heat of her fever might as well have spread for the things that entered her mind. Dark desires and half spoken promises yet unfulfilled.

“Ryder,” the voice purred as a hand brushed across her forehead. “It would be a shame if both of us wasted our time because you overslept.”

Kitt curled tighter in her blankets for a second, burying her face against them, before she opened her eyes. The windows tinted themselves to keep the light in the room soft, letting her eyes gently adjust, until Reyes’ face came into focus. “You came?” she mumbled through the thick comforter.

“I was invited, after all. Should I go?”

“No.” She scooted across the bed just enough to make room for him to sit beside her. It was effortless, the way he pulled off his vest and let it drape across the nearby table. Local temperature controls made the room too warm for anyone besides Kitt and her fever chills. Even Reyes had to unzip his flight jumper to rest more comfortably in the muscle tank he wore below it. “Now you’re just showing off,” Kitt teased him with a lazy jest.

“It’s not my fault your quarters are 30 degrees. Its warm. So if you don’t mind, I am going to dress more appropriately for the weather.”

“Whatever, just get over here.”

The smuggler obliged, sliding across the bed to settle in against her, welcoming the heat of her fever ridden body as she tucked herself up under his arm. “So, Ryder, why am I here? To be your personal space heater?”

“Easier than that. I just wanted company. Everyone else is busy.”

“And I wasn’t?” he chided her, ruffling her hair with a hand. “Your doctor told me that you’ve been ill. Nothing too serious? Or contagious?”

Kitt shook her head, snuggling in closer to his side. Part of her wished he could just swallow her whole, make all of her as comfortable as he was, to feel all her sickly aches just disappear. “I’m fine… just need some rest.”

“So I am just your personal body pillow and space heater.” It made him laugh. “Moving up in the world.”

“If you’re going to tease me, then the least you can do is read something to me.”

“Oh? What do you have?” Kitt pointed across him to the little table at the side. There was a hard copy book. The cover had no image or indication of what the book was, but it was well loved, he noted by the worn edges and the stained paper. A few pages in, he found the tile. “A real live paper book? The Time Traveler’s Wife?”

She nodded against his side, eyes closing. “It was Mom’s favorite. I found it in Dad’s things. Go to the dog ear.” 

The wonderful sound of pages flipping past his thumb made her scalp tingle. She could listen to that all day. Or to him.

“You’re not very far, are you?” She didn’t have to look at him to know he was smirking at her.

“Just shut up and read it.”

His voice dropped in volume, barely whispering as he relayed the passages she’d heard half a dozen times already. It never got old. “I can barely refrain from throwing my arms around him. It is obvious that he has never seen me before in his life.” There was something musical about the way his voice lilted through the words. “‘Have we met? I’m sorry, I don’t’ Henry is glancing around us, worrying that readers, co-workers are noticing us, searching his memory...”

Every paragraph of the book had been so etched into her mind by this point that hearing him tell her the story almost made it feel new again. So calm, soothing, quiet… The whispered words tugged her closer to sleep, making it harder and harder to concentrate on what he was saying. The tingling in her scalp moved down the back of her neck and into her shoulders as she settled deeper into his side.

“‘Trust me. Just trust me.’ Clair laughs. ‘Why would I want to do that?’ ‘I dunno. Because I love you?’” Kitt shifted in her almost sleep, wrapping her arms tighter around his side, mumbling into the warmth of his shirt. “Shhh. If you go to sleep, I’ll keep reading.”

“Mm’kay…”

It was the honey smooth voice of Reyes that tugged at her until there was nothing else. Just his words and the nothingness of sleep. Even when she slipped into her dreams, he kept reading, just like he promised he would.


	8. Falling asleep in the other's lap - Prompt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the end of Night on the Town.
> 
> Acts of Intimacy Prompt ♗

 

art by [@mmerchedesi](http://mmmerchedesi.tumblr.com/)

 

If there was one thing that Kadara did better than any other planet in Heleus, it was its sunsets. Eos had been a contender with its radiation soaked atmosphere, but since the vault had cleared the skies, the colors had been tamed. Here, though, there was no radiation to tint the clouds or color the sky any shade of red, yellow, purple, or somewhere in between. It was the most beautiful thing in Andromeda. Well… almost.

“S’ Reyes…” Kitt slurred as she leaned heavily against his side, watching the Kadaran sunset from the rooftops at his side. “I still don’t know much of anything ‘bout you… but’m pretty sure you know everything about me… Keepin’ secrets?”

The comment made a laugh stutter out of him. There was a tightness in his chest that he wanted to ignore, the pain of so many truths wanting to burst out and spill all, and the agony of the chains that held them in place. Now was not the time for her to know. The kiss they had shared nearly unlocked every encrypted thought, but he was not ready. Nor was she. “Everybody has secrets, Ryder. Even you.”

“Psshhh.” The whiskey was apparently going to her head much faster than his own. She’d kill him for calling her a lightweight later. “Doubt it!”

“Alright, Ryder...” he swirled the mostly empty bottle of Mount Milgrom around before pulling a hit. “How about we play a game. You tell me things about yourself, and I’ll stop you if it’s something I haven't heard. In return, I’ll tell you some things about my life before the Initiative.” A cheap trick to play on a poor drunk woman, but he was also curious. There were only so many things in personnel files.

Kitt stole back the bottle to take her own drink, slamming it firm down on the shipping crate they were seated on. “Deal. I got arrested by C-Sec about a dozen times before my family left to live with Mom on Earth.” Silence. “I knew Garrus Vakarian! Briefly… Really? Argh. I always loved archaeology, but Dad always corrected me to say I liked ‘paleontology’ until I actually got into real archaeology. Seriously?!” The frown on her lips worked its way up her face, wrinkling her nose and creasing her eyebrows. “How d’you know this stuff?”

“As you are always so keen to remind me, gathering information is what I do best, Ryder. Go on, keep going.”

With a loud groan, she pulled off her jacket and threw it into a pile between them. Another shot of whiskey and she seemed raring to go again. “My Dad created SAM behind the Alliance’s back and it got him disbarred--”

“That’s cheating, Ryder. And, yes, I already knew that.” Reyes almost laughed when she bounced in frustration. That only seemed to make her more frustrated, and she was talking _faster_ , even as her cheeks grew redder from the alcohol.

A yawn tried to fight its way past her words, but she stifled it down. “I crashed the Nomad the first time I used it because I mixed the pedals up. My middle name is Rachel. I picked a military outpost even though I knew it was a mistake, almost got shot on Aya for using my scanner, I insulted the Archon - twice. Drunkenly tried to kiss Keri. I lied to my brother about Dad being dead and Habitat 7.”

Reyes couldn’t help but chuckle. “Ryder. All of that is in official Nexus documentation - except that part about the reporter. That… I heard about through _other_ channels.”

“Argh!! Uuuhm, I was forced out of my platoon and lost all my friends because of the Initiative. I was born a biotic but my brother wasn’t. I’m a minute older than him. I almost punched Cora. Also almost punched Peebee. Then I had sex with her - bad idea. Uuuuhhmmm?” Kitt rubbed her nose trying to think, while he simply watched, eyes glowing with amusement. All she really had to say was one _personal_ thing from back before the Initiative, but she wasn’t thinking about it, or she didn’t want to. Something they maybe shared in common. Or, perhaps, it was that haze of sleep in her eyes that was slowing her down.

“Come on, Ryder, surely you can do better?” he teased.

She slumped against his shoulder, taking a long drink before handing the bottle back to him, face flushed and eyelids heavy. “I dunno anymore…” she mumbled. “You know everything…”

“Ha ha, if only it were so easy as that. It would make my work so much simpler. Are you sure you’ve tried everything, Ryder?” She drearily nodded her head. Apparently she was a sleepy drunk. When she started to slouch her weight on him even more, it was easy enough to guide her head down to rest in his lap. Kitt voiced no complaints.

“Well...” she drolled, closing her eyes, “there is this one thing.”

“Yes?”

“I thought you were cute the first time I saw you,” she hummed her words, a smile gracing her lips. “Very kissable.”

Those words lingered in his ears just long enough to make a heat rise in his chest; even his face felt warmer than usual. This woman, a Pathfinder no less, allied with the Initiative that betrayed all the exiles on Kadara, was worming her way into his body and mind.

That kiss in the storage room was supposed to be innocent, no ulterior motives beyond the distraction it provided, and yet… Reyes couldn’t help himself when she silenced all his fears about this new life in Andromeda. _You’re someone to me_ , she had said. All he had ever wanted to be was someone that mattered, someone that would make a difference, someone people would look up to and be proud to know. It seemed he had become that person unknowingly because of her. For her.

“Well, that is a surprise, Ryder.” He laughed quietly to himself, but found no response followed his. Glancing down it became plainly obvious as to why. “If you fall asleep now, Ryder, you won’t learn any of my deep dark secrets.” Again, nothing. She was out like a light. Reyes tried not to laugh in case it might wake her up. This might be the only time he would see her in such a pleasantly serene state. All the stress he could normally see on her shoulders and in her features just melted away as she slept there.

As time passed, the bright orange star dipped lower on the horizon, coloring the sky in a broad spectrum. Perhaps one of the most beautiful sunset’s Reyes has seen since finding himself on Kadara. It had been a long time since he had spent any prolonged time in the Port proper to see a sunset like this one. The landing pad in the slums didn’t offer this nice of a view.

Moments like this made everything he was doing worth it in the end. At least, he hoped. There was no guarantee she could forgive him for the secrets he kept. The only thing he had was hope - something that he hadn’t felt since the uprising. And it was all because of one Kitt Ryder. Maybe that tugging in his chest was more than he wanted to believe it was. Time would tell. For now, he had her, and that would be all that mattered until the Charlatan was needed again.


	9. Teaching something new - prompt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Night on the Town, before Archon's Flagship and High Noon
> 
> Sweet and Affectionate prompts #28

Sapphire. Aqua. Ultramarine. Navy. More amusingly, periwinkle. They were all words that Ryder had heard people use to describe water before. The lake on the Citadel, rivers and oceans on Earth. Anywhere she went, she’s heard any number of terms for blue to describe the waters they were looking at. But here… there was only one word that suited it. Cerulean. That most perfect blue. The sulfur in the water certainly affected its color, but after activating the monoliths, it was now safe to drink. Though it did make her wonder… would it lose its color?

“Kadara to Ryder, do you copy? Anubis calling for support.”

Kitt turned drawn lips to the companion standing by her side as they looked over the small lake just outside the port’s slums. Just to be funny, he’d spoken with an exaggerated muffle through his fist, mimicking calling through a static com. When she gave him that look of almost disappointment, he simply laughed. “Don’t you ever just come out here and enjoy the view sometimes, Reyes?”

“There are too many things to be done. My work is never quite finished.”

It just made her sigh. Compared to the other worlds they had found, this was the only one that… well, that didn’t feel so desolate. It had plenty of water, trees, mountains. It wasn’t frozen, it wasn’t a desert, it wasn’t so hopeless. Sure, the water had been toxic before, but with filtration it was drinkable. And now, with the vault activated, even that problem should go away. It was a win-win, right?

“I miss the views from back home, sometimes. Lush trees, and open expanses of water that you could skip the perfect rock over. Chris and I would always see who could get the most bounces before it finally sunk.”

Reyes turned to look at her as her eyes drifted down to the ground, searching for that pesky perfect rock. “You made a hobby out of skipping rocks?”

“Yeah.” A light laugh erupted out of her chest from the memories. “Dad taught us when we visited Earth one time. Some little useless skill that he picked up when he was a kid. When we went back to the Citadel, Chris and I would practice whenever we could. It always pissed off the really uppity C-sec officers. Not nearly as much as when we’d jump in, but enough.”

“Somehow I imagine the two of you caused more trouble than they were equipped to deal with.”

“You know me so well.”

“It is what I do, Pathfinder.” The light in his eyes as he smirked made her grin in response. Moments like these, she could just relax. Let who she used to be exist. Here, with him, she wasn’t just ‘Pathfinder Ryder’, she was Kitt. Just someone looking for a home.

Her eyes glanced down to the ground again, and there it was. The perfect skipping stone. Almost perfectly rounded edges, smoothed from being driven over so many times. Flat. “Here, let me show you.” With one hand she picked up the stone, and with the other she grabbed his hand. Light on her feet, she trotted down to the shore.

“Ryder–”

“It’s fun, I swear!” Kitt’s grin lit up her face as she stood right at the edge of the water, even daring to let it lap around the edge of her boots. If anything was off, SAM was monitoring her life support. He’d tell her if the water crashed it out before it would start stinging. In theory, she should be fine. In reality, who knows.

“Right, so find a rock. Normally I’d say go for the size of your palm, but your hands are too big. Something more my size. Like….”

_“Pathfinder, there is a suitable stone about 5 meters to your left.”_

Her head snapped back around and found the one SAM had mentioned. “Not perfect, but not bad. Here.” Light handed, she tossed it up in the air for Reyes to catch. There was so much amusement in his expression as he watched her. Surely he’d have something to say once she gave him a second. “Right, so hold it like this. Between your thumb and middle finger, with your pointer hugging the edge of it. Got it?”

“I’ve got it.” The lilt in his voice gave away that he was trying not to laugh.

“The skip is all in the wrist. Just face the water, bend the knees… and let it go.” With a snap of her wrist, the rock in her hand went sailing out towards the water. One, two, three… “Argh, only six. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Reyes glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, stood stiffly, and lazily tossed the rock out towards the water. It didn’t skip even once. “Such a shame.”

“You’ve got to put more feeling in it than that. SAM, can you help us find another rock?”

_“There is another suitable stone to Mr. Vidal’s right, approximately 6 meters away. I have calculated that the precise angle to get the ideal friction without too much resistance is precisely 20 degrees.”_

Once it was retrieved, Kitt stood behind him as they faced the shore together. “Bend your knees a little. It’s not like you’re facing off with the water. It’s not going to bite back.” Tucking herself in close behind him, she held his hand and copied his stance so as to help him mimic what she had done before. Her chin rested snugly on his shoulder. “Now lean back…”

Kitt was so focused on helping his stance, the moment he turned his head to the side and caught her lips made her nearly stumble. Her eyes fluttered, but the desire to stay close to his warmth kept her pressed close. This had happened just enough times that SAM remained quiet while her heart rate rose and her cheeks flushed. “You… are such a cheater…” her voice was breathy as she firmed her stance behind him.

“I never got anywhere by being honest.” That grin on his lips made her want to kiss him again. “You were saying?”

With a roll of her eyes, she settled back in behind him and took his hand again. “As I was saying, lean back…” Her eyes glanced sideways to catch his, but this time he did not turn his head to catch her off guard with a kiss. “And throw.”

They both watched as the stone left his fingers, skipping once, twice… “Eight. Looks like I win.” Reyes grinned at her, stepping aside only to pick up another stone. He bounced it once in his palm, took it in hand, and sent it skipping out over the water. “Ah, and that one’s ten. Should we take bets who can get the farthest? I have a feeling I might win.”

Something clicked in the back of Kitt’s mind. “Oh. You smarmy asshole.” But she couldn’t keep that frustrated yet so amused smirk off her lips. Somewhere between a grin and a pout. She laughed at herself as she brushed the hair out of her face. “You knew how to skip rocks this entire time, and you didn’t say anything?”

“I did try to tell you. You just looked like you were having fun.”

“Alright, Reyes. You’re on. Five rocks each. Whoever gets the most skips pays the other’s tab at Kralla’s.”

“Oh, ha, haha.” His eyes lit up darkly. “There are better bets than that, Kitt. Let’s say we keep ours secret until you either win… or you lose.”  
  
Her lips set in a smirk of determination. “You’re on.”


	10. Movie Night - Last of the Legion and Chill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What should have happened at the end of the Movie Night quest. Perhaps I'm biased. This occurs post Night on the Town and pre High Noon for Kitt's timeline. (tried editing this one, but I wrote and edited while drunk. Sooooo meh)

 art by [@mmerchedesi](http://mmmerchedesi.tumblr.com/)

_I swear to love you, a thousand times a thousand stars…_

_Oh, Jorax, so many years lost… we were so foolish. Our hearts are one. No enemy fleet, no sea of stars, can ever separate us again._

 

The sudden sound of clapping from flanking speakers finally pulled Kitt out of the light nap she had slipped into. Somehow. In the past she’d never been one to sleep through movies, let alone the end of them, but this one had been so obnoxiously long. A heavy weight on her shoulder made her glance and notice she wasn’t the only one who had drifted off. Drack seemed like he was leaning half his weight against her, doing nothing to muffle his snores. When she glanced to the other side, Kitt managed to catch Lexi’s light chuckle at the situation.

All around her, the crew was gathered. They never really had much opportunity to spend in the same room unless something was wrong, making this a nice change of pace. Stretching slight enough to chase the sleep from her limbs, but not wake the snoozing Krogan, her eyes began to wander away from the culmination of the movie’s romance plot. Hiding in the back of the room, shrouded in shadow like usual, was their final guest. Not part of her crew, but… more than welcome. In fact, she very clearly remembered he wasn’t taking no for an answer when it came to the proposed movie night. Not that she could decline - the smuggler had gotten his hands on Last of the Legion before she could even try to haggle for it.

Maybe it was a mixture of the nap and whatever drinks Peebee and Drack had mixed up, but her eyes lingered on him instead of returning to the movie. Every little move. The gentle way his hands cupped his glass, and the way his lips graced the rim to nurse his whiskey. The slight play of the fingers on his other hand, gently tapping his thigh. The relaxed fold of his significantly more casual garb hung in just the right way. Definitely the drinks. Kitt groaned inwardly, turning her eyes back to the screen as the credits began to roll.

“Up you get, you big lug,” she mumbled, elbowing her Krogan companion before he turned her into an unwilling pillow. He made all sorts of unintelligible noises, making Kitt wonder for a second if her translator had fritzed.

One by one, the crew started to shuffle and get to their feet. The close bonds between each and every member of the crew could be clearly seen as she watched them all help each other up and out of the room. Suvi and Kallo were discussing the scientific discrepancies and the laws of physics that had been broken by the digital effects. Lexi helped Drack shuffle out of the room. Cora was teasing Liam for his taste in movies. Peebee and Jaal didn’t hesitate to compare and contrast the differences in Milky Way entertainment from those the Angara had developed. While Gil was rambling on about the different “sports model” ships that had been destroyed in Vetra’s favorite explosions. Bonding like this only made Kitt smile wider.

Unfortunately, that left her with Liam’s mothball of a couch that they’d all dragged into her room for the whole purpose of watching the movie. Kitt sighed when the door hissed closed, leaving her alone with the glowing blue orb that was SAM. “I’m going to head off to sleep, SAM, so you can turn off your logs for the night.”

_“Of course, Pathfinder. Goodnight.”_

“Goodnight.” Every tense muscle sighed in relief as she stretched her arms overhead, groaning with the movement. There was so much pressure on all of them, and all of that stress never quite left. Shoulders were too tight, backs started to hurt, heads ached. But tonight? Tonight was good. Noticing a half empty bottle of whiskey on her table, Kitt decided it wouldn’t hurt to have one last drink before she slept. It burned as it went down, but allowed a warmth to spread through her chest. “It’s no Mount Milgrum,” she whispered, swirling the glass in hand.

Whiskey always seemed to bring back fond memories. Every time she was back on Kadara, the two of them danced around their words. Fleeting glances and lingering hands. It wasn’t until they’d both partaken in a particularly fine whiskey that something finally seemed to happen. A kiss that ignited all others. Kitt bit her thumb thinking about it. Probably better that they had kept their distance during the movie. Had he been any closer, it would have been too hard to keep that ‘respectable’ distance that was expected between business associates.

Thankfully he hadn’t lingered afterwards either… right? The realization hit her just as she heard the echoing sound of feet across the steel floor plates. “Perhaps there are a few more treasures in Sloane’s reserves. Should we look and see before you go about your merry business as the Initiative’s hero?”

“Reyes…” His name was light on her tongue, the warm bloom in her chest not entirely from the alcohol in her hand. “Always hiding in the shadows, aren’t we?”

The soft light from her lamps illuminated his face when she turned. There was something poetic about the way it framed his face; half in the light, half still hidden in the blackness. “It has always been an ally of mine, Ryder. That’s not about to change.”

“To what do I owe the pleasure of the infamous Reyes Vidal lingering on my ship?” The whiskey made her mind buzz with all sorts of thoughts. About her. About him. Kitt bit her lip to send the thoughts away, distracting herself by running a finger along the rim of her glass.

“Thanking the host for the pleasure of her company. And, of course, to share my precious bottle of whiskey. Such treasures should never be enjoyed alone.”

“Inviting yourself to stay in my quarters longer, are we?”

Reyes didn’t vocalize his acknowledgement, instead pouting his lips and tilting his head. Clearly he knew exactly what he was doing, and Kitt wasn’t about to chase him off. With a sigh she beckoned him forward, and refilled his glass with the bottle at hand. “I guess we sit?”

“Nervous, Ryder?” The grin that graced his lips teased her, making her huff and follow him to the couch. It was different, now, with him here. That night on the rooftops of Kadara had changed things between them. The innocent touch of their fingers when she steadied his glass to pour made her hair stand on end. The temptation to let her hand linger. Their distance was polite but each draught of whiskey seemed to make it shrink.

Though her eyes watched Kadara slowly rotate below the ship, her fingers slowly inched towards him. For every attempt she made, her anxiety pulled them back. Heat flooded her face, pulling her eyes down to the liquid in her hand. The last time she tried to have a serious relationship, it ended badly. Kitt didn’t want that to happen with Reyes. But if she didn’t move, _nothing would happen at all._

A squeal nearly escaped her, barely hidden behind the glass at her lips, when his hand took hers before she could even make that move. Reyes only laughed. “You know, Kitt, it’s not like anyone’s judging you here. All of your friends have gone to sleep, and even SAM is quiet.”

“I-I know..” she stumbled over her own words, not quite slurring but unable to find the words she actually wanted. His hand splayed over hers, tingling nerves spreading up her arm as he brushed a thumb over her palm.

“Do you want me to leave?”

“No!” It was an easy answer, she didn’t have to think about it, that fixation she had with him always bringing her back to Kadara.

The tug of a smile at his lips and the gentle ease of his eyes reminded her so much of that look on his face when they shared their quiet night on the rooftops of the port. “Then I’ll stay. If the Pathfinder allows it.”

“She allows it,” she breathed without looking away from him. An embarrassing heat rose in her face from the depth of his stare. There was just enough light in the room to illuminate the golden hazel of his eyes, pulling her in, drowning her in the depths of their color. Too many things were going through her brain. Memories. Fantasies. Kitt blamed the alcohol and it drew her eyes back down to the glass in hand. They were supposed to have a professional relationship. He was supposed to be a contact. But he wasn’t. Everyone at the Nexus would frown at what she was doing in Kadara, but screw all of them. Not once did she have a choice in where her life was going. This was going to be her choice. Reyes was her choice, whatever consequences it would bring.

“You’re thinking too hard about something.” Amusement laced his whiskey heavy words. A gentle finger tapped the bottom of her chin, drawing her eyes from her own drink to the smuggler at her side. She could just drown in those eyes. Liquid gold, melting her down until nothing was left but that molten heat in her chest. “It is difficult to resist the temptation to kiss you right now.”

“Then why are you resisting?” Her words came out breathier than she intended, but the whiskey was doing its work. Liquid courage, sure enough.

A laugh bubbled up from his lips, dark and husky as he leaned in close, his warm breath tickling the skin of her cheek. “You’re something else, Kitt.” He brushed a thumb over her lip tauntingly slow. The moment was lingering. Too long. Her stomach was doing somersaults and she couldn’t take it anymore.

“Either kiss me or pour me another glass of whiskey, _Shena_.”

The codename caught him off guard enough for him to draw back, a quirk to his eyebrows and a sparkle in his eyes. Shivers danced down her spine at the gruff chuckle that followed her words. Something was igniting in her core and she was certain only he could extinguish it. Their lips hovered so close, hands teasing over clothes, breath heavy, eyes drifting closed. What was he waiting for?!

“Whiskey it is.”

Kitt’s breath stopped as her eyes snapped open.

Her reaction only seemed to make him laugh harder, the jubilant noise echoing around her quarters as she stared in utter disbelief. That smuggler was far to pleased with himself and the easy way he could just string her along. Huffing her frustration, she slammed her glass down on the table and grabbed a fist full of his shirt, tugging him back towards her to take what it was she wanted. There was no more dancing around each other with practiced steps.

It was all the invitation either of them needed. The taste of the whiskey lingered between their lips, teasing and tugging them deeper into this mess they’d so willingly found themselves in. Little panted moans muffled each time he covered her mouth with his. The slightest tease of his tongue beckoned her deeper, the pressure of the cushions against her back pushing them closer, melting together. His weight was a shield against the outside world, guarding her consciousness from anything but him, her, and the couch beneath them.

“Sometimes I have to wonder if you’re proud of your codename…” she gasped, eyes rolling back as his lips traveled along her jawline. “Are you Reyes, or are you _Shena_?” The light chime of laughter at her own joke quickly turned to a sharp intake of breath when he sucked hard on the skin of her neck. The cool breath that followed made her body quake.

“Think what you like, Kitt,” he teased, every word dragging his mouth farther down, “I am always Reyes first.” A hand snaked up under her tank, dragging the fabric along with, until bunched up at her collar. Her back arched, watching him as that tousled head of hair traveled lower… ever lower…

There were too many clothes in the way. Hers. His. God, she was desperate to just feel him against her and all he was doing was teasing! Tongue, lips, hands, they all stopped before giving what she’d been wordlessly begging for since they sat on that damned couch! “Fuck it, Reyes!” she ached, pressing her hips up against him when he decidedly lingered at the bones of her hips.

“Oh hoho. It was you that asked for this… now it is my turn to play.” Goosebumps rose on her skin when she felt him finally begin to tug at her pants. Yet his lips followed his fingers, down her thigh, past her knee, brushing over her ankle… and she was left cold when the cloth was discarded but he did not return to the apex of her thighs where she wanted him.

Her heart hammered in her chest, desperately waiting, trying to suppress the erotic sighs that threatened to echo. As if to torture her _more_ , his hands did not wander to all the places she wanted. They did not discard that last unfortunate cloth barrier between them. She hated him for it, having half a mind to guide his hands back to her hips while they seemed intent on caressing every other inch of skin, but it only lasted a moment before the clasp of her bra came undone. It crossed her mind that he was determined to drive her absolutely _insane_.

The attentions of his lips against the supple skin of her breasts dared to pull an abrupt cry from her throat, sudden and loud enough she had to clasp a hand over her own mouth before it was heard elsewhere on the ship. The others weren’t supposed to know about this. Even with SAM’s logs off, he was still monitoring her vitals. If they weren’t careful, and someone checked because they heard her noises, the other’s could come barging in-- “ _ooh…”_

“Stop thinking.” Her toes curled, thoughts coming to a screeching halt, as he finally slipped a hand down between her legs. Just a gentle nudge through the dampened fabric of her panties that sent tingles down her spine to the very tips of her fingers and toes. _So close._

“Please… _Shena…._ ”

She hissed, followed by a ripple of laughter when he swatted her thigh. “You’re playing a dangerous game, Ryder.” That spark of amusement in his eyes never left. He was enjoying this just as much as she was.

“Then beat me at my own game, why don’t you. Or will you be bested by the newest Nexus authority?”

“Tsk tsk. Putting my integrity as an exile on the line.” With a single finger, he snapped the elastic of her panties against the sensitive skin. Her head dropped back over the arm of the couch, nails sinking into the cushion. The gentle tug of the fabric away from her skin made her quiver with anticipation of what could only follow.

“You’re such an asss _sss…ngh…!_ ” Finally. _Finally._ The blooming of warmth in her core snuffed out any words or thoughts. Her own heavy breaths were the only thing she could hear as he explored each and every inch with his tongue. Tasting all he could reach. Six hundred years separated from the last time she felt like this. Six hundred years forgotten as he buried his head deeper between her thighs. Her fingers in his hair only seemed to egg him on harder.

A strangled moan accompanied the smooth stroke of his fingers as he buried them where his tongue could not reach, his ministrations making her squirm and writhe, the pressure of his free hand being the only thing to keep her hips from bucking. Every nerve was firing in a glorious show of fireworks behind her eyelids. He threatened to bring her ever closer, bit by bit, finger by finger, until she groaned her frustrations aloud when he pulled away. His fingers still brushed across her tingling core, but nothing so comparable to the torture of what he had just done. “What does Shena mean again?” she teased him with a breathless laugh.

“I think you know the answer to that one, Ryder,” he said between kisses, lips twitching into his telltale smirk as each one traveled back up her body. Every thought was on his mouth and _oh_ the things he could do with it. She could still taste herself and the lingering bite of the whiskey when she pulled him back up to kiss her in full. Taking the opportunity while she had it, she buried her hands in his hair and held him there, savoring every mingled flavor. She could get used to this.

The pending orgasm throbbed deep within her core, desperate for the release it had been denied. She needed it. She needed _him._ Not about to let him stop, she ground her hips against his, grateful he’d forgone his typical armor for something so light and casual. It made his eagerness all the more apparent.

Tension had burned between them for so many months, so many times coming close to this culmination, but never quite making it. Here, now, all she needed was for it to happen. That skin to skin contact that only really came when he finally took the moment to pull his shirt overhead and toss it into the pile that used to be her clothes. Heat from her core rose to the very surface of her skin when she finally felt him against her. She wanted to feel all of it. His arms, his chest, his back, his stomach, all of it.

Fingers dipped down past his belt, pulling a growl from his throat. “Taking your time, aren’t you?” she giggled into his ear, rubbing a palm firmly against the pants that unfortunately separated them from each other.

“Don’t tempt me, Ryder.” The stinging bite of his teeth on her ear silenced any snarky reply, only increasing her need.

His fingers caressed her briefly once more, keeping that delicious wetness as he pulled away, finally shedding the last of the clothing that separated them. There was a moment of almost hesitation between them. Eyes locked, bodies brushing so close together, they waited. One looking for the confirmation from the other, but neither sure if the other would give. They both knew if they took this any farther, there was no going back. Whatever they shared would be marked by this moment. She bit the bullet, leaning up to meet his kiss as his body met hers. The whine that escaped her was muffled by his lips. Tremors shook her body, white light erupting behind her eyes as he withdrew, then hilted himself inside her.

All the palpable tension between them, every teasing comment, it all came undone in their time together. Whispered appeals, guttural begging, and desperate pleading. Nails marked his back while love bites peppered her shoulders. Whatever this was, whatever they were, it didn’t matter anymore. Unspoken whispers of affection were buried behind their primal voices. All she could think of, in this moment, was the friction between his body and hers. Each thrust harder, faster, than the last, hips rolling together before they parted again.

The heat built with increasing volume, stacking upon every action and teasing inaction, until she couldn’t take it anymore. Every muscle in her body seemed to tense and convulse in successive sweeping waves of ecstasy. He held her through it all, fingers on her jaw to keep her looking at him, staring into his molten eyes that just seemed to match the heat that had bloomed in her belly. His thrusts pulled her through the orgasm until their gaze finally broke with his own shuddering finish.

They lay, a tangled mess of limbs, exhausted on the couch that seemed so out of place among the Nexus supplied furnishings. The weight of Reyes’ body provided all the comforts of a cushioned bed, if not more so. It crossed her mind that they should shower. Or at the very least clean up after themselves, but the exhaustion and comfort was too hard to give up. They’d just take care of it in the morning, however much she may regret the decision later.

The same thoughts seemed to cross his mind as he started to pull away. “Stay here…” Kitt whispered, tightening her arms around his waist. He mumbled something in response, but the mix of good whiskey and physical tire made it impossible to comprehend. Whatever it was, he let his weight settle over her again, so she didn’t care. Sleep would come, and Reyes would be there with her.

\--

“Hey, Ryder, did you want me to move my couch-- _oh._ Ha!” The door to the Pathfinder’s quarters hissed open at some time in the night, or was it morning…? Kitt popped her head up over the edge of the couch, her tanktop the only clothing she had left on from the night before. The peeking of the sun from around the far side of Kadara made her squint and rub the sleep from her eyes.

“H’m...?” Another head popped up beside hers. A certain smuggler that had invited himself to the crew’s movie night, the reasons for which had become abundantly clear, while the three of them exchanged brief glances. Kitt’s head rolled to the side, looking at Reyes with the same sleepy expression she’d given Liam a second before. Then it dawned on her. Her eyes widened, taking in the fact that both she and Reyes were still naked, and there was Liam. Standing in the doorway. The only thing obstructing his view being the back of _his own couch._

“......... _shit._ ” 

His laughter echoed through the entirety of the Tempest. So much for keeping their relationship quiet. If they hadn’t heard the noise the night before, they all certainly heard it now.


	11. The First Goodbye

Shit. Shit shit. Shit shit shit shit  _ shit.  _

Bad was putting it lightly. They’d been through some tough shit before, but this? This was a disaster. “SAM? A little help here?” Even flexing her fingers became impossible as Kitt tried to move any part of her body against the strange orange haze that had enveloped them. Almost like omni-cuffs, but her entire body was frozen in place, all muscle movement frozen. Vetra and Drack weren’t doing any better. It didn’t seem to be species specific.

“It’s useless to struggle.”

The voice was like needles down her spine, ringing of unfortunate events, and empty threats that now seemed rather full. Quite full of his own gusto, the Archon stepped from the shadows with some lackey just to his side, sauntering up in his victory. 

“I’ve been in this forsaken cluster for decades, surrounded by amoeba.”

“Decades, huh?” Kitt taunted him, trying not to let him see her fear, and failing. “You look really good for your age. Have you tried that fancy new Cover Girl anti-aging cream? I hear it’s amazing!”

“Ryder...” Vetra’s voice echoed her own worries, but the worst that he could do was kill them, right? _ Right?  _ The images of the salarians being cut open by the kett scientists popped up in her mind and she instantly regretted the thought. There were definitely worse things than death.

The Archon simply scoffed, seemingly above such insults. “And to think that you, a human, pathetic sack of flesh, could do the unthinkable. You even evaded me. Such an unlikely rival. It was almost invigorating to have one. And yet… it’s a fitting end.”

“I’d give you a pat on the back, but I’m a little tied up. Come back later, maybe?” Bad move. Bad bad move. The Archon’s claws dug into her neck as he grabbed her throat, choking off her air until her chest ached from the effort, and yet her persistent companion SAM remained quiet. Even on their private channel. Just when Kitt felt like she might pass out, he released his hold just by the barest slight, enough to snap her head to either side. 

“Why don’t you try that with me?” Drack gave a tug at his own restraints, but only his artificial limbs seemed to move.

Kitt was looking anywhere for help, for anything that might be of use, any answers, but came up empty. The glint off a metal needle caused her breath to stop.  _ No, no nonono, shit. Shit!  _ Too late. Pain shot through her neck, down into her back, as it pierced her skin. Something swam through her blood, itching and crawling, raising every hair on end. She felt cold, even though the room was warm.

“A first sample. Your testing begins now. I will learn your secret soon enough.”

If all he wanted was her secret she would scream it out to the galaxy. Nothing was worth the things she imagined he would do to her, to them, to everyone. Everyone. The people on the Nexus were counting on her. Eos. Voedl. Havarl. Even Kadara.  _ Reyes. _ If the Archon won here, then she would lose. Everyone would lose. This monster would do… who knows what he would do, but no one would survive it.

An explosion shook through the floor beneath them, distracting the Archon and his subordinate for a moment. Words were exchanged on an unmonitored channel, giving the three of them no information, and nothing to use. Maybe it was Raeka?

However slight the moment of reprieve was, Kitt was grateful for it when the Archon’s dead white eyes turned back to her, looking her up and down with disgust. “Save your strength, human.” If kett could wrinkle their nose in sheer superiority then that was certainly what he just did to her.

“Raeka sounds like she’s in trouble,” Vetra intervened, the tilt in her voice showing her distraction as she, much like Kitt, was trying to find any sort of solution to their problem.

“Whatever her team is doing is the least of our concerns right now. SAM? What the hell did he do?”

_ “I’m sensing a biological transmitter in your bloodstream now. Attempting to neutralize it.” _

A biological what? It just sounded like bugs in her blood and that just made her want to vomit. Bad as it may be, a transmitter wouldn’t kill her, or lead to her death by keeping her stuck in one place on an enemy ship when the biggest baddie knows exactly where he left you. “Not important right now, SAM. Figure that out after we get out of this mess. How do we get out of this… whatever this is.”

There was a pause. Pauses are always bad.

_ “The containment fields only interact with living matter. If you expire, the field around you will extinguish until manually reset.” _

Expire…? As in…?

_ “As you know, my access to your physiology allows me to enhance your vital signs when required. I can also do the opposite.” _

_ Reyes.  _ “Dying was not on my agenda today! I don’t intend to add it!”

_ “After stopping your heart, I would attempt to resuscitate, of course.” _

“Attempt?! You can’t guarantee I’ll wake up?! Isn’t there anything else we can do  _ besides  _ kill me?”  _ She just wanted to get back to Reyes. _

Another pause. Longer this time.  _ “There are no other options that I can determine.” _

_ Shit.  _ So many thoughts buzzed through her head, begging her attention before she would cast them off, only to have something else grab her and run. The one thought that kept coming back was  _ Reyes. _ As confusing as it was, they had something, and neither of them was denying that. Okay, well, she was, but only to her crew because none of them would shut up about it. 

Whatever they had, however complicated it might be, Kitt couldn’t help but wonder; what if she didn’t come back? What if something happened here, and SAM was unable to resuscitate her? How would Reyes feel…? Would he miss her?

“Alright, fine. Let’s… just get this over with.” Better to bite the bullet than to wonder.

Drack scolded her with a grunt, getting his point across with a disgruntled, “You better come back.”

“You’re one crazy bitch,” Vetra added in, “it was nice knowing you.”

_ “Stopping your heart _ -”

“Don’t tell me when you’re doing it!” Kitt interrupted the AI, fear flooding her voice and expression, wishing she could struggle against her holds. She didn’t want to die, but it’s not like she had a choice! “You’re supposed to surpr--”

The breath stopped in her lungs. Gravity didn’t seem to matter anymore as the room itself seemed to tilt on its edge. Kitt struggled to grasp what was happening for a moment, until the corners of her vision narrowed, stripping away every sensation, every thought, every feeling.

_ Reyes. _

Time no longer mattered. People, places, things no longer held meaning. Blackness shrouded the world. Nothing existed until a dull thud echoed. A single beat with nothing to follow. The silence was eternal, it was never meant to be broken. It would take what it wanted and give nothing back.

But that is not the Ryder family way. To take things lying down, to give up when all seems lost, to let someone else  _ win. _ Lights flashed within the dark, thoughts, memories, brief glimpses of what had been and what should be. A happy family; mother and father, brother and sister. Joy. Glee. Thrills. Things that had long since been lost.

New adventures. New faces. New risks. New joys. So much had happened in such a short life. Death had been much simpler last time. No regrets. Nothing to look back on when time had run out. Now… now Kitt had a reason to live.

An unfortunately familiar ache throbbed in her lungs when she gasped in a breath, muscles clenching as she tried to involuntarily escape from a doom that lingered in the back of her mind, coughing and banging on her chest as she struggled to find a rhythm.

“Ryder!”

“SAM…?” Kitt choked with a strangled breath, rolling onto her side and finding her muscles weak. “Next time… if someone has to die temporarily, it’s Cora’s turn… I think I’ve died enough times for one person. It’s getting old.”

_ “It is preferable to the alternative, Pathfinder.” _

“Yeah… sure…. You can say that when you’ve died a few times.” The grunts she made echoed her pain and stiffness, though it had begun to fade as her body seemed to become accustomed to being alive  _ again _ . Both Vetra and Drack hadn’t moved. “Miss me?”

“Down. Now.”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t get your panties in a bundle, old man.” With SAM’s guidance, she was able to release the locks and let her companions down on their own two feet again. “Let’s get the hell out of dodge before the basketball hoop comes back.”

“Right behind you, Ryder.”

Try as she might to put the fact that she had died for a second time behind her, Kitt’s mind had latched onto the idea that someday, she might not make it back. And that caused her more pain and fear than anything the Archon could ever do to her.

_ Reyes. _


	12. Emotional Backlog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Immediately following The First Goodbye

One name echoed through the Tempest, from fore to aft, port to starboard, with every single member of the crew searching. Ryder. They still had a day before they were going to reach the Nexus, with the Salarian ARK only a few hours ahead of them, but the news had gotten out to Lexi. Try as she might to avoid the inevitable, the resident doctor and medic had learned their beloved Pathfinder had allowed her AI companion to kill her. Full heart stop.

“Ryder!” “Ryyyyyder!” “Kid!” “Katherine!” “Ryder!”

Kitt ducked into the back seat of the Nomad, praying no one would come look. It wasn’t widely known that she would hide in the back seat to take a nap, despite the ever present smell of oil, and that was exactly the way she wanted to keep it!

“Ryder, come on!” “This isn’t a game, Ryder!”

They’d been at it almost an hour. The pyjak had nearly given her up in the early portion, but she’d distracted it with a nibble of food from the last time Peebee had been in the Nomad, and happened to leave a leftover ration bar. But the voices were getting closer now. They’d searched the entire fore end of the Tempest, and soon they’d find her back here too.

One side of the Nomad opened and her heart stopped. Jaal stuck his head in, glancing up to the driver’s seat, and then disappeared back out the door again. Just as she let out a sigh of relief, the other side opened, and she couldn’t react before Gil stuck his head in, their eyes locked.

_ Please, _ she mouthed a silent plea to him, praying he wouldn’t tell.

The silence felt so long before it was finally broken, unfortunately, by his voice. “She’s over here!”

“Shit!” Kitt tried to bolt out the opposite door, but landed square in Drack’s chest. Groaning in pain, she held her palms to her nose, pulling back only to check if it was bleeding.

“Going somewhere?”

No blood, but her situation hadn’t improved. “Uhm..?” Her shrieks and screams of frustration echoed through the Tempest, just as their searches had done, until the Krogan dropped her firmly down on her own bed and stood back to guard the door until Lexi entered. 

“Thank you, Drack, I can handle it from here.”

“Go easy on her, Doc. It was a rough run.” The concern was heartwarming, but the scolding motherly look that Lexi gave made Kitt withdraw, realizing the amount of trouble she would be in once that door closed.

“I would have, if she had cooperated and told me the truth.” Drack gave her a look, and she knew she was on her own. The hiss of the door as it closed was the last thing she was fully aware of before the doctor started scolding her for everything that had happened on the Archon’s ship.

She didn’t stop there either. It wasn’t the first time that Lexi had tried to correct Kitt’s sometimes overeager and straight up dangerous decisions, occasionally not thinking things through, picking the quick and risky path over the long and slow, not to  _ mention _ her personal choices outside of Initiative business. This time she just happened to have the ammo to keep her sitting and  _ listening. _ Letting SAM stop her heart was a big deal, in more ways than just the physical implications. No one had known the AI was capable of that, and if anyone should have known, it was Lexi.

Heat rose in her cheeks as she tried to shy away, not exactly ignoring what was being said, but trying to deflect the brunt of the anger. The asari wasn’t even yelling, it was worse than that; she was using the disappointed motherly tone she usually saved for Drack.

“Honestly, Katherine, don’t you think I should have known about this?”

She was mum for a moment, taking a second to realize that Lexi had stopped talking and asked her a question. “I knew you’d freak out. So… I was trying to think of a way to tell you without this being the result.”

“You mean to say you were attempting to avoid the conversation altogether.”

It wasn’t false. “Something like that.”

Lexi sighed, sitting down on the bed beside her. “I scold you because I care about you, Katherine. You aren’t just the human pathfinder to this crew, or to me. It is important to me that you’re alright. Okay?”

“Yes, Mom,” Kitt teased with a little smile and a bump of the shoulder.

“Your mother was a wonderful woman, I take that as a compliment. But how are you, really?”

She fell quiet, letting the question sink in, really taking a moment to think about it before she could answer; it was something she was trying to answer for herself ever since they got away from the Archon. “I… I don’t know, honestly, uhm…”

“Take your time.”

There was no good way of putting it. The first time she had been dying, from a miscalculation her own father had made, suffocating on an alien planet, she had been ready to die. She didn’t  _ want  _ to die, but there was nothing keeping her alive either. Now… things were different now. She was looked up to as the Pathfinder, she had the puzzles her father had left behind, her brother to wait for, outposts to establish. And then there was Reyes. The one enigma in her life that was more complicated than anything related to being the Pathfinder.

Kitt voiced as much as she felt comfortable, her own misgivings about having been the new Pathfinder in the first place, some of the decisions she regretted from Eos and Voeld, the situation with Raeka and the Krogan. Almost anything that came to mind. It was the most she had said to anyone besides herself. No one had gotten a first hand glimpse at her insecurities like this except for SAM.

“Would you like to hear my suggestion?” Lexi finally spoke up after taking a minute to think things over.

“Please?”

“Take some time to yourself. Ideally, meditate. Let your thoughts come and go, and let them take your regrets with them. I have a few papers on meditation and helping with PTSD that I can send you. I hope they will help you.”

“Thanks, Lexi. I think I’m okay, really. Just… have to get it out sometimes.”

“My door is always open for you, Katherine.”

Kitt stayed sitting on her bed as the doctor got up and left. Drack was waiting on the other side of the door, shooting her a quick look and a nod, before it shut again and she was alone. It only took a few minutes for the monitor on her desk to blink with a new message. Lexi always was quick to share her papers.

Meandering over, she flipped open all her pending emails, sliding the majority of them to the trash without even reading, knowing they were mostly from Tann and Addison and were unimportant details that she didn’t need to worry about right now. She’d died on the Archon’s ship, and they were bugging her about a delay in Suvi’s reports, or a discrepancy in their cargo manifests. Things she didn’t need to be worrying about when her own mortality was forefront.

If anything happened to her, what would Christ think? He was stuck in a coma, only having shared a few words with his sister, and he… he didn’t even know their father was dead. Maybe she should try to leave him a message or something. But Chris knew her, always knew the things she’d say or do. Even if he finds out after the fact that their father was gone, he would understand why she did it, and he’d forgive her. Even if he lost his sister, he would forgive her. Kitt would never have to worry about her little brother after she was gone.

But there was someone else that had too many things unsaid. Something that she knew she would regret if she never took the opportunity before she was gone. Things that needed to be said, even if she didn’t have the courage to do it face to face. “SAM?”

_ “Yes, Pathfinder?” _

“Is it possible to set up an email that will automatically send under certain circumstances?”

_ “It is. Would you like me to begin preparations?” _

“Yes, please.” The screen on her private console flashed as SAM took control of the programs, running through a few command prompts, until a blank new message popped up. Instead of saying it was from her, it was listed as  TEMPEST AUTOMATIC MESSAGING SERVICES (℅ Katherine Ryder). Taking a deep breath, she started to type.

_ To: Reyes Vidal _ _   
_ _ Subject: I’m sorry... _


	13. Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post Archon's Ship, Pre High Noon, during Firefighters

[Art by Mmmerchedesi @ Tumblr](http://mmmerchedesi.tumblr.com/)

 

Things could never be simple. There was always one caveat or another. One risk or another. Always a choice, both with consequences, and both with rewards. Especially so on Kadara. Ryder was only supposed to be there to track down the hackers that tried to shut down SAM with their virus. It’d been a long time coming, impatiently waiting, when she finally got their email. But those hackers were going to wait, because she got sidetracked.

Side tracked by a particular smuggler with a penchant for good whiskey.

Try as she might to stay focused on work, it would never last around Reyes. She intended to work, really. Honest. Even brought her pile of datapads with all the information she had on “Knight” and the group of hackers. It wasn’t much, to be fair, but since they were based on Kadara she had hoped that Reyes would have information for her.

“I have to say, I’m a bit disappointed in you, Reyes,” she huffed, scrolling through her datapad. So far, there was nothing new to add to what little information she had. In short, she had nothing. She had no idea what she was going to be walking into.

That didn’t seem to concern the smuggler at all as he laughed. “You can’t possibly expect me to know the name and ID batch of every exile in the badlands”

“Isn’t that what you’re here for? Known for?” Kitt teased him. “You told me to come to you if I needed information. Now that I’ve come, you’re not giving me anything.”

“How about I give you something else instead?”

Kitt couldn’t well stop him before his lips were at her neck. She swatted the back of his head with her datapad, making him groan. “I’m here for work, you cheeky smuggler. Play comes after.”

“Ah haha, fine. Fine.” Reyes sat back down properly beside her, pulling the datapad from her hands to read it over. The red glow of Tartarus cast his pensive expression in an intimidating light. “The email they sent you… it was signed by ‘Knight’?”

“Yeah, that’s about all I have though. I don’t even know if its a man or a woman. Just that their base is in the badlands. Not too far from the port, just up in the mountains.”

“Hmm… maybe…”

“Oh, just spill it.”

“The name - 'Knight’ - it rings similar to 'Nigh’. There is a woman here, Katherine Nigh. Back in the Milky Way she worked on something called 'Overlord’. It was a project involving humans and AI. She came with her son. He’s crippled, though his file is vague on why.”

“I knew I hated the name Katherine.” She sighed. “I’m not going to ask how you know all of this.”

That made him laugh. “It’s better that you don’t. Now that our work here is done…”

Kitt let him pull her into his lap, datapad skitting across the floor. “If that’s scratched, you owe me a new one.”

“You’re someone I would happily owe anything…”

–

Try as she might, Kitt would never quite get used to knowing she had something… almost serious with the infamous Reyes Vidal. The charm, the swagger, it made her heart flutter in a way that SAM often had to ask if she needed to see Dr. T'perro. Perhaps she might have to. If only for a psychoanalysis to figure out what the hell it was she was thinking.

At least his bed was comfortable. It wasn’t the first time she’d been there, nor would it be the last. That is, assuming the place even belonged to him. For all she knew, he was squatting in an empty apartment. It was clean, anyhow.

When she finally woke, datapads with information were scattered on the bed next to her. Before sleeping they’d gone over everything once more, just to compare what Reyes had said with what SAM was able to find in the Initiative’s files. It all matched up. Only problem was… Reyes wasn’t there with her. Sometime while she slept, he had left.

Something itched in the back of her mind. A dream, maybe? Or something she overheard while she slept? _“This is mine now”._ Whatever it was, it didn’t matter. All of her datapads were accounted for. Her SMG was still on the table.

With a sigh, she kicked the covers off and started dressing. Kitt didn’t get very far before she noticed something was missing. “Where the hell is my bra?”

Somewhere down in Tartarus, a certain smuggler was laughing to himself.

 

 


	14. A promise - prompt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First portion post Night on the Town, end portion at the start of High Noon
> 
> Sweet and Affectionate prompts #21

The drumming of music shook rock and bone alike. Each note thundering out of contraband speakers, beckoning movement and forgiving drinking. The heart of every dancer, every patron in Tartarus beat with the same pattern as the bass. Feet stepping, arms swinging, problems forgotten. It was the perfect place for sin. No one would expect anything else from a club in the slums.

But that wasn’t all it was. In the private room on the upper floor, a different story would be played out. A different act set into motion by so many little steps and plans gone right. One little surprise after the other, and there it was. A smuggler and his Pathfinder.

The dull throbbing of the bass was dulled by the closed door, almost entirely forgotten by the two inside. Both busying themselves with their own tasks, but it didn’t mean they couldn’t share their space. His space, really, but she was more than welcome to it. Reyes quite enjoyed her company even if their time was spent mostly in silence. One hand held onto a data pad, going over the details of every smuggler on Kadara not associated with the Collective, while the other stroked fingers through his Pathfinder’s tousled hair. Kitt had come by unannounced, but there were no complaints from him. Just a quiet acceptance when she laid her back on the large sofa and rested her head in his lap.

As he read,  it did not go unnoticed when she started huffing and grumbling at the datapad in her hands. Unfortunate news, it would seem. “Should I even ask?” he mumbled out, setting down his own work to trade for his glass of whiskey. Before it even reached his lips, she stole it and threw some of it back.

“It’s the Nexus. The more time I spend there, the less I blame any of you for leaving. Addison won’t get off my back about the outposts. And any time I try to bring anything up, she calls them ‘her’ outposts. As if she was the one who had to fight off Kett and Remnant to set them up.” Every word made her huff and pout a little bit more. It was adorable, really. “If they’re not ‘sugarcoating’ things by basically lying to my face, they’re belittling my work. Asshole that he is, at least Tann kind of recognizes what I’ve done. He just takes credit for it by claiming he sent me out there. I did that on my own, you cockrocket.”

Reyes barely coughed back a laugh behind his whiskey. “Cockrocket?”

“It sounds insulting when you take into consideration they don’t even have one.” Kitt just sighed, letting her datapad drop to the floor. No care for it whatsoever. “I’m sick of it… I really am.”

“You know, Ryder, you have a choice.” It was too hard to resist the temptation to brush a hand across her forehead, tucking a few stray strands of hair behind her ear. The affectionate motion made her look up at him with those big eyes. Like this, she seemed so innocent. Hell, even he might give off that impression in this case. For her, he could be. There was something about those green eyes that made him so willing to be someone else. Someone more.

Their fingers laced together, the echoing bass from downstairs filling the silence between them. “Reyes…?”

“Kitt?”

“Don’t ever be like them. Don’t steal other’s accomplishments for yourself. Don’t lie to me just because you think I can’t take it. I’m a big girl.”

A knot tightened in his chest at her words, though he covered it with a smile. The secrets between them were already growing. They had been, since the moment they met. Shena. Reyes. Smuggler. _Charlatan._ No matter how many times Keema had told him to tell her, he couldn’t bring himself to risk it. To risk losing her. Someday. But now was not the right time. There might never be a right time. That fear, that pain, would be hidden along with the truth of his identity. “It’s a shame you have such a low opinion of me, Ryder.”

“Reyes…” She emphasized his name in a scolding tone, sitting up to look at him more properly. “Promise me.”

Brushing the moment of anxiety away, he took her chin between his thumb and forefinger, gently brushing his thumb over her pouted lips. “I promise.”

–

If only things had been as easy as they once were. If only they could have stayed as free and easy as they had once been. But the reality of Kadara, the fight for power, the lives at risk, it could never have stayed that way. Peace and freedom are for the ignorant. Strife and pain are given to those that fight for what needs to be done. And here… that’s what this was. A necessary evil.

A party of footsteps echoed down the cavern, nearly drowned out by the nearby dripping from the stalactites. Reyes knew this would happen. Someday, it was bound to. If Sloane had just left the Pathfinder alone, things would have been fine. But she had to get involved. She had to drag Kitt into this mess. And now, with the feet drawing her ever closer, it was all drawing to its climax. His mistake was waiting this long.

_“You look like you’re waiting for someone.”_


	15. High Noon - pt1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kitt's emotions during the events of High Noon.
> 
> Reposted the first half along with the second half as chapter 4.

_You’re not Alec Ryder._

She wasn’t. She never would be. She never could be.

_An untrained Pathfinder and all this mess to fix? The hell was he thinking?_

That was always her problem. It was Alec Ryder that was supposed to be marching off the Hyperion when it docked with the Nexus. Alec Ryder was supposed to found the outpost on Eos… on Voeld. Alec this. Alec that. Alec, Alec, Alec.

_Where’s the Pathfinder?_

The Pathfinder was gone. The real human Pathfinder died on Habitat 7, along with whatever vestiges of her life of from the Milky Way that remained. Her father was dead, her brother was in a coma, and any hope she had - for anything - died along with them. No, her brother wasn’t dead, but right now he might as well be.

_Alec promised a lot. None of it panned out. That’s what you’re up against. Why people won’t trust you. Why I don’t trust you._

She didn’t even trust herself. Why should she? No one else did.

Even those that gave her the benefit of the doubt - Kandros and Kesh - would only trust her so long as she brought results. And results were getting harder and harder to come by. Either this was wrong, or that was. Luck had never been her friend, but this? She wouldn’t live for much longer at this rate. Even her loyal teammates might turn on her. One already expressed jealousy at being overlooked - not that she could blame Cora for that. It was unfair. And Liam… Sure, he could put on a face, but when shit hit the fan, how long would he stick by her side? They were hired on by her father. Not her.

_You’re the Pathfinder now, Kitt._

Yeah. Some Pathfinder she was turning out to be. Everything up to this point had been so touch and go.

Eos - barely managed a success there. Two failed outposts, and the third was just by luck. Some hidden alien “vault” holding the secret to stabilizing the planet. But the radiation problem was still there. The colonists still had to have the radiation shields up around the outposts. Not to mention, the Kett.

Voeld - another disaster. An ice planet that was supposed to be some tropical ocean planet. Sure, there was still water. But it was all frozen. Every drop. Frozen. There wasn’t even access to drinking water. You had to melt the ice. _Not to mention, the Kett._

Havarl - not as much of a disaster as the other planets. Unfortunately, it turned out that this planet, Habitat 3, was the home planet for the Angara. A species that Kitt was desperately trying to play friendly with. No outpost. No success. Another failure. At least it hadn’t turned out as badly as Habitat 7. Oh, but hey, no Kett.

And then there was Kadara… The planet itself was worse than all the others combined, and not due to the environment. No. It became home base for all the twisted exiles that had been banished from the Nexus. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the planet used to be a settlement for the angara. So much for being friends. And the woman in charge? A badass, sure, but about the farthest from friendly as you could get without being an ally to the kett or the Roekar. Oh! And there were Roekar on the planet, just to top it all off.

For all its faults, though, Kadara was the only place that felt honest. Yeah, everyone hated her guts, but at least they didn’t try to hide it. They didn’t pretend like she was going to be their saving grace. They didn’t expect anything from her. She was just another face they were more than willing to curb stomp. If not for the ceasefire zone, anyhow. There were liars among them, to no surprise. But… some of their lies were different.

These lies she started to believe. As much as her gut told her no, the playful words and the teasing advances, she believed it all. “Shena”. The angaran word for ‘mouth’. It certainly was an accurate code name. In more ways than one. It’s not like she expected him to be any different. All those smooth words didn’t hide the truth of what he was. A pilot turned smuggler. What could he be besides a liar? And yet Kitt didn’t care. Not one bit. Why? Because he made her feel good about herself. He made her feel like she was getting the job done. He made her feel something other than self pity. And she thanked him for that.

It was dangerous, though. Trusting someone like him. A man that never spoke about himself. Until he did. In that moment, he allowed himself to be vulnerable around her. Vulnerable in the same way that she had been around him. It was true honesty, even if his words had all been lies. That look, the little fidget of uncertainty in his feet. That was truth. That was something you couldn’t pretend. Maybe that’s why she didn’t regret kissing him, up there on that rooftop. Because something about it was honest.

Something, or nothing. Where she stood now, she had begun to realize that there were more lies than just the ones he told. Shena. Reyes. Smuggler. Charlatan. God, that last one stung. Charlatan was now a word coated in regret.

Now she had a choice. The clock was ticking down. This so called ‘fair’ duel was a sham - just like everything turned out to be. On one hand, there was Sloane Kelly. The Nexus Security run away that had taken a group of piss poor excuses for explorers and turned them into brutes. Thugs. Extorting the local population in favor of the aliens who had come with her. Demanding exorbitant 'protection’ fees and supplying the poor and feeble with highly addictive drugs. But she was a thug. Someone with a mind for strategy, but little patience for manipulation.

Then there was Reyes… Reyes Vidal, the Charlatan. Masked threat to Sloane’s whole enterprise. Sure, there was the old saying; the enemy of my enemy is my friend. How far can you really take that? Reyes had used her, manipulated her from the moment she met him. Honey coated words to let down her guard, slip in under her radar, and get her to do exactly as he wanted. Every step undermined Sloane’s power, gave the Charlatan and his Collective more control. It was brilliant really. So the real question was, could she ever believe a word he says? If she chose him, could she ever really trust him? Or would each word be a sweet little lie just to get her to do exactly as he wants?

Both sides had risks. Too many for her to weigh in such a short amount of time. Her heart cried with the betrayal from someone she wanted so badly to trust, but her mind could not ally herself with someone who would take advantage of those less fortunate. So she did nothing. Sloane drew her gun, and Kitt closed her eyes, trying to will herself to a different time, a different place. Someplace, sometime, that was happy. Back on the Citadel, playing in the lake with her brother until C-Sec would chase them down. There was no swimming in the lake… Their mother would always laugh when the soaked C-Sec guard would drop them off at home. They always managed to push them in, no matter how quick or crafty the guard was. The twins were always better.

A shot rang out. It didn’t come from beside her.

The scent of blood coated the inside of her nostrils Metallic and tangy. Something she’d gotten unfortunately accustomed to.

“Bang.”

The voice of a liar. A liar she trusted. A liar that made her feel welcome among those that hated her. But a liar nonetheless. It made Kitt’s stomach turn and her heart leap. What a cliched internal conflict. She’d laugh if only it wasn’t so pathetic.

“You’re a goddamned traitor…” the woman spat. It was a truth buried among lies. “Your father is the only reason any of us are here. Now he’s dead, just like the rest of us. Maybe we’d have a chance if he’d have let you die on Habitat 7.”

Finally.

Finally someone said it.

No more hinting. No more veiled suggestions. No more lies. Sloane Kelly, the only person to tell Kitt to her face that her father should have lived instead. The only thing in Andromeda that she knew to be the truth. Kitt opened her eyes so she could finally look at the only person who ever told her the whole truth. She was on her knees, one hand over her wound and the other grasping the gun pointed at Kitt’s face. There was no doubt she’d use it.

“Then shoot me. Take the life I shouldn’t have been given in the first place.”

Sloane never got the chance. Just when she looked like she might, Reyes finally had the guts to shoot Sloane himself.


	16. High Noon - pt2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of High Noon

 

The cave around seemed to bustle with movement and noise. The sniper from the corner hopping down out of his perch while the master of puppets gave orders. Their words echoed off the stone walls, but Kitt didn't hear a thing. Only one thing played over and over in her mind.

Maybe we'd have a chance if he'd let you die on Habitat 7.

Kitt couldn't tear her eyes away from the woman's body as her blood pooled and soaked into the dirt below her. A gunshot to the gut, and one to the head. Dead eyes staring. With all the fighting and slaughter she had to deal with on an almost daily basis, death hadn't really bothered Kitt before, but this... They didn't even have the decency to close her eyes before someone dragged her away.

The blood that remained was dark, clotting in the clumped dirt. Smeared by footsteps. None of it felt real. How could it be real....? All of this... it had to be some intense cryo dream. Everything. Habitat 7. Podromos. The flagship. Reyes...

_"Pathfinder, your heart rate is rising. I recommend sitting down."_

The voice in her head. It was all a dream. It was all lies. Every last word!

_"Pathfinder, please."_

Kitt put her hands to her head, trying to force herself to wake up. Praying someone would yank her out of cryo just in time to tell her they'd finally made it into the Heleus cluster. To see her father crossing over to the Nexus to greet Jien Garson with smiling faces. Her brother standing at her side while they watched the glory of the Initiative. "Please..." she whimpered under her breath, begging.

If this wasn't a dream... if this wasn't just some messed up reality she'd created in her head... Then why couldn't she have just died on the Archon's ship? SAM would have been better off living in Cora's head.

_"Katherine, this train of thought is dangerous."_

If she would have only never left that ship, she wouldn't have been faced with this. She wouldn't have had to choose. She wouldn't have had to see Reyes for what he really was. If only she hadn't woken up, she could have died thinking he was a good man. That was something worth having. Not this. Not this.... twisted web of lies and deception. Was any of it real? Had he ever been honest? The fact that he was the Charlatan wasn't what hurt the most. It was that he had played her, used her, twisted her feelings around his fingers until he got what he wanted. Sloane dead, and a Pathfinder in his debt. Now that he had saved her life, he had her in his pocket. He could call on her for a favor. She was no better than a dirty cop from those old vids that Liam liked to play on his monitor in storage.

It made her sick. How could she have fallen so far? Her Father would have been so disappointed. Her mother...

The touch of a finger to the underside of here jaw finally snagged her mind back into the present moment. Standing in the cave. Staring at the puddle of blood that had long since soaked into the dirt. "Are you listening at all, Pathfinder? Kitt?"

"Everything played right into your hands, didn't it?" She barely heard her own voice among the echoes of dripping water.

"What I've done for Kadara is bring peace. Sloane would have brought war to this planet, and Heleus. We don't have the population to survive that."

Kitt was silent as he began to walk away. She didn't follow. She never wanted to follow where he walked again. But, even through the pain she felt, her heart tugged in his direction. Even if she had to rip it out of her own chest, she would not follow. "Is Reyes even your real name...?"

"It's what my mother called me," the smuggler teased, turning back when he realized she failed to walk with him. His jest brought no laughter from her lips, making him sigh. "It's my real name. I promise."

"This wouldn't be the first promise you failed to keep. Why couldn't you trust me? For once?" The tears welled up in her eyes, even as she tried to force them back. "I believed in you, Reyes! God damn it! I trusted you with everything I had! And this is what you do? Drag me into your games? Play me like one of your Collective pawns?" Every word was meant as a bullet through his chest, even if she couldn't fire the gun herself. Each shot destroying what she was. The strength she had built around her trust in him. "You didn't have to toy with me like this!"

"I..." The words visibly shook him. The confidence he normally held wavered. The smuggler, the Charlatan, the man behind the curtain, the man she had trusted. He gave the appearance of someone opening up, but she held no faith in that. "I liked the way you looked at me. I was afraid that would change."

It baffled her that he could expect anything other than this from her. The pain, the anger, all stemming from the betrayal of his silence and lies. He was naive if he thought she would just ignore that.

"Kitt."

_"Pathfinder, as the leader of the Collective, and now the supervising power in Kadara Port, perhaps you should hear what he has to say."_

She didn't even try to stop herself when instinct constricted the muscles in her arm and sent her fist flying into his cheek. The tears flew freely, speckling the ground and her cheeks as she shook her head in anger. "Shut up! Shut up!!!" Her sanity was cracking. Too much was happening. Too many lives relying on her decisions. She'd already failed so many, and now she failed Sloane too.

_“Breathe, Katherine.”_

The cold barrel of a rifle bruised her cheek, but the returned sniper was pushed aside by his Charlatan. “Return to your post until I have further orders. This is between the two of us.” There was a certain venom to his voice. Not unlike when they had faced Zia. The sniper did as he was ordered, though not without shooting a glare in Kitt’s direction. “Ryder, you know that I never intended to hurt you. I only lied because I didn’t want you to think less of me as ‘the Charlatan’. The rumors are not very kind.”

_Breathe. Find strength. Find your feet. And step forward._

The foundations that held up everything she was had long since fallen away. Because of him. Now she had to stand on her own without him. Tracks of tears marking through the dust on her cheeks, Kitt shoved him away when he stepped closer. She had half a mind to hit him again. “Maybe the rumors aren’t so wrong after all. You’re… you’re not the kind of person I thought you were.”

As the words fell off her lips, Reyes expression turned to a pain she hadn’t seen. More lies, she had to convince herself. Because if he felt anything at all, if anything he had said to her in the past was honest, she would fall. “I wanted to be.”

“Go and take your port. I have a outpost to call in. You owe me that much.” Kitt did her best to leave her heart there in that cave, bleeding and broken on the ground. Each step away from Reyes echoed in her ear. He never called. He never begged. He just… watched in silence until dark space separated them. And with each step brought fresh tears.

When Kitt finally returned to where Vetra and Drack had been waiting, she didn’t have any strength left. The krogan lent his as her muffled sobs buried in his armor. Part of her would lie buried in that cave in Draullir. Kitt’s tears offered sacrifice to the “death caves” that they might take that part of her, smother it, and never let her feel it again.


	17. "Is it possible to love too much?" - prompt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> post High Noon, pre Meridian
> 
> 54 Writing Prompts #34
> 
> (queued to be deleted and reuploaded)

Two weeks. Two weeks of silence. Two weeks of idling. Two weeks in the middle of nowhere. Two weeks since the Charlatan took Kadara port. And two weeks since the Pathfinder had set foot anywhere besides her own quarters. No one could make her move. Not even Drack. The only action that had been taken was SAM instructing Kallo to leave the Govorkam system on the Pathfinder’s orders. To leave Kadara.

Even if she did not speak of it, they all knew what the trouble was. The Charlatan, more colloquially known as Reyes Vidal. She had kept a firm face when she walked through Kadara Port back to the Tempest, but once she was in the privacy of her own quarters SAM had informed Lexi that the Pathfinder was having difficulty breathing, had an increased heart rate, and an onset of nausea. It was heartbreak.

The first night had been the worst. Lexi stayed there with her through it all, making sure she ate and drank. The silence was palpable. Even the hum of the ODSY drive could be heard from the engine room. The others questioned towards the Pathfinder’s well being, but there was never anything new to tell. All she needed was time.

In those following days, the difference was noticeable. Though Kitt remained isolated in her quarters, she was always active. On her terminal answering emails, discussing this thing or that with SAM, or training her body with music drumming. But at night, she was a different person entirely. The music would stop, as would her energy. She just… stopped.

Usually, the door into her quarters was locked when she didn’t want to deal with the pesterings of her crew mates. Which, lately, was most of the time. Especially at night. But this day had been so particularly troublesome. Tann was railing on her to get moving. Asking her what the delay was. The Tempest hadn’t relayed any new information on the Scourge or Meridian. It was her job to find it. It was her _duty_ to the Initiative to find it. For all he cared, finding Meridian was the only thing she was good for…!

Glass shattered against the shimmering window that was the only thing separating her from the endless and unknown space beyond. Lexi warned her not to drink too much, she hadn’t even finished the one glass of it, but everything still hurt. She was just a piece to be used by the lot of them. Lied to and moved across the playing field by invisible hands. Pathfinder, go do this. Pathfinder, these people need your help. Pathfinder, Pathfinder, Pathfinder!! “Aaaargh!!” Kitt dropped to the floor, tucking her knees to her chest as she ran fingers through her hair. It was stiff and knotted from lack of attention.

“Katherine, may I come in?” Lexi was the only one who usually dared to try and talk to her. The others were concerned, but… in a few cases of uncontrolled emotions and biotics, they stayed away for the most part. Time was what she needed.

The lack of response and the unlocked door served as an open invitation for the doctor to enter the room and kneel down beside her. “Perhaps you would like to sit down?” Just a light prompting, and Kitt was back on her feet, slowly being guided towards the bed where she could sit and rest. It was almost like a routine the two had gotten into as of late. “Have you been keeping up with your meditations and yoga?”

No response as she looked away.

“Katherine?”

“... no…”

Lexi sighed, getting up to retrieve a new glass of water for her. “What you are doing is only going to hurt yourself, Katherine. You need to rest and give your mind time to heal.”

“But--!”

“No buts.” Kitt huffed and curled up on the bed, shunning Lexi for the moment. Feeling the comfortable hand placed on her arm only made her pull her knees closer to her chest. “I know that it hurts. You care a lot for Reyes, we all see that. Him being the Charlatan was… unexpected. There is nothing wrong with being upset.”

“I don’t care that he’s the Charlatan!” she snapped, brushing her hand away. Her voice cracked, withdrawn emotions spilling over into her own voice. No matter how she tried to vent them out during the day, they always came back whenever she stopped moving. “I don’t fucking care that he’s some shady mob boss of a bunch of exiles! That’s not why I’m angry with him!!”

“Then tell me what you’re angry about.”

“I don’t need you psychoanalyzing me!”

Lexi sighed. “Katherine. I’m not here as your doctor. I’m here as your friend. Will you talk to your friend?”

There was a long moment of silence until she finally mumbled out, “fine…” The asari offered out the glass of water, which she took as she sat up more properly again. “I’m just… I trusted him, you know? I wanted him to be different than everyone else… I wanted him to _care_.”

“What makes you think that he didn’t?”

All those moments they shared flashed through her mind as she sat there. Analyzing each one, trying to find what went wrong. What didn’t she see? What had she missed that let him play her and string her along like that? Nothing. There was nothing, except for the lies that became apparent too late. “Because he promised me he would be different than the Nexus. But he wasn’t. He turned out _just like them_. I can’t take it anymore, Lexi. The only thing I am is a tool to everyone else. Just a thing to be used and discarded when I no longer serve a purpose. Once we find Meridian, Tann’s just going to toss me aside like Reyes did.”

“Not according to the emails he has been sending you.”

That made Kitt’s head snap around. “Are you reading my mail?”

“Of course not! Don’t be ridiculous. But due to your current state, I’ve been having SAM monitor all incoming transmissions so that you won’t be overworked. I know he’s been trying to contact you.”

“It doesn’t matter…” She withdrew back into herself again, setting the water down on the floor. “He still lied. If he lied about who he was, who knows what else he lied about… Probably everything… If it wasn’t for that goddamn party. I would have just treated him like a business contact. I was so stupid!”

“You were falling in love. It makes all of us stupid.”

Kitt groaned out loud, flopping back into her pillows and burying her face in them. The tears burned hot in her eyes. Everything started playing over in her head and she couldn’t shut it out. The harder she tried, the louder it got.

_I’m starting to think that kiss was more than just a distraction…_

In frustration, she punched her pillow and screamed into it. Trying to will the memories away with her own pain. But they wouldn’t leave. They never left.

_I liked the way you looked at me… I was afraid that would change._

That look in his eyes, hopeful, almost desperate for her response. The evidence that he had been honest about one thing was there in his face, but she didn’t want to see it. She couldn’t see it, not after all the lies. All she wanted was for him to be honest, and he couldn’t even do that. He couldn’t be the person she had hoped he was.

_I wanted to be._

There was no stopping the tears this time. The way his face fell… the drop of his eyebrows and the lowering of his gaze. The slump of his shoulders and the fade of life from his eyes. Her words had hurt him as much as they hurt her. As much as they still did. Theirs was a never ending pain. So long as she remained away from Kadara, away from him, that cave would haunt her. The best she could hope for was that he felt it too. The knife in his chest would be the same as the knife in her back.

“Lexi…?” Kitt turned her head away from the pillow, instead hugging it close to her chest for comfort. Her eyes were still red and puffy, but it was a common trend and a state she had just gotten used to lately.

“Yes?”

“Is… is it possible to love someone too much?”

The asari remained quiet for a moment. “I supposed it is.”


	18. "Don't ask me that." "Say it." - prompt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> #42. “Don’t ask me that” and #43. “say it” from the Dialogue prompts
> 
> (queued to be deleted and reuploaded)

There was something weird about returning to Kadara. Everything had changed, but nothing seemed different at the same time. The port was functioning just as well as it had been before. Sure, there were less beatings in public spaces, no heads on spikes outside the gates, but there were new “taxes” on any trade going through. If it wasn’t one thing, it was something else. Can’t make everyone happy.

The slums seemed to have changed the most. The people that lived there didn’t seem so downtrodden. There was now a soup kitchen for anyone who couldn’t afford food of their own. It was the little things. 

“You okay, Kid?”

The sound of her krogan companion’s voice, and the firm hand on her shoulder, drew Kitt’s mind away from the distractions she’d been looking for. It’d been her idea to bring him along instead of going alone. For her safety, and her sanity. “Yeah. I’ll be okay.”

The two of them were standing alone in front of the door to Tartarus. It’d been several weeks since she’d set foot on the planet, let alone stood at the door to the club that her Collective contact called home. Because that’s all he was now - just a contact. She had to remember that. Whatever Reyes Vidal had been before, all the lies, the scheming, the  _ using  _ her, had thrown that away. He made the decisions that led to this point. If there was anyone to blame, it was him, and she had to remind herself of that. 

Taking a deep breath, she motioned her hand across the door, and the drumming of the music below thudded through her feet and into her chest. There were too many memories of the room in the back. Too many emotions. If she saw him again, she’d buckle. She wasn’t strong enough for this. Turning on her heel, Kitt tried to book it back out of the bar, but Drack stopped her.

“No backing out. This is about the Outpost, not him. Besides, if he makes you cry, I’ll kill him.”

“I can’t do this.”

“Yes. You can. Now get in there.” It did make her feel a little better. Just a little.

Half the bar patrons on the upper floor seemed to be watching every step they made. Most of them were likely Collective. Why wouldn’t they be? This was practically their home base at the port. It was always full of them. And they’d tell the Charlatan all about how the Pathfinder was too chicken to even face the lowly smuggler. If only all those poor sods knew.

As they walked past a table with the one asinine dancer who always seemed like she was on break, Kitt stole her drink and threw it back in one go. A harsh whiskey. Great. It went down with a cough, but she needed it, and hopefully it would give her that confidence she needed to face Reyes Vidal once and for all.

“Ah, Pathfinder. It’s good to see you.” His voice was like silk, as smooth and charming as he had always been, every syllable promising a good time if she ever gave in. Whether he intended it that way or not. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“This is business, Reyes. I’m here for the Outpost.”

“Of course. Sit, please.” Even with the invitation, Kitt remained standing, shifting her weight into one hip and crossing her arms. Better that she didn’t get comfortable. For now she had the strength to keep her distance. She had to keep that. “Or don’t. So, the outpost?”

“You’re going to increase the Collective’s security blanket in the area. Pirates and Outlaw scavengers have tried hitting it twice this week alone.”

“Yes, and they were returned the favor. The Collective agents in charge of protecting your Outpost made sure of that. Isn’t that adequate?” Reyes reached to his table to pour his tumbler full. He wasn’t allowed to even touch the glass before she took it away from him and placed it on the farther table, far beyond his reach.

“No.”

“Tsk, no need to get testy.”

“You are going to increase your security blanket on the Outpost.” Kitt kept her voice firm.

It only got a sigh in response. “To increase the Collective’s presence around the Outpost would have costs. Agents would have to be pulled from either the Port or Drauliir. Not to mention, having more exiles in the area around an  _ Initiative _ Outpost would likely only make them nervous.”

“They’ll get over it. You  _ owe _ me this, Reyes.”

“Are we really going there?”

“Yes. We are. I didn’t stop that sniper, even though I should have shot you anyway for lying to me. You. Owe. Me.”

Reyes sighed again, glancing towards the whiskey. She pushed it farther beyond his reach. “Kitt.” Her name rolled off his tongue. 

“Drack, give us the room please.”

_ “This is inadvisable, Pathfinder. You have increased levels of cortisol in your system, and your heart rate is reaching 100bpm.” _

“You sure about that, Kid?” The lack of any response at all as she stared down Reyes was an answer in and of itself. Drack’s huge, hulking form shrugged and left the room. SAM offered no more comments, but she could still feel the almost buzz in the back of her mind, telling her he was still closely monitoring every reaction.

_ Just breathe. You can do this. He doesn’t have a hold over you anymore. _ It was all Kitt could do to reassure herself. There would be no falling into the trap that was his honeyed whiskey words, and remembering how they tasted on his tongue-- No. She wasn’t going there. He was a jackal. A wolf among sheep. A predator. And she was easy prey.

“Alright.” Reyes clasped his fingers in his lap. Despite the tension he was still oh so casually leaning against the back of his sofa. “Are we finally going to have a civil discussion about what happened in Drauliir?”

“You lied to me!”

“Or an angry shouting match. That works too.”

“Oh, just shut up and listen for once, Reyes! You didn’t trust me. Me. Of all people!” Her hand swept across the table, accidentally sending his tumbler crashing to the ground in a shatter of glass and wasted whiskey. That made him twitch.

“Yes, you, the human Pathfinder. The Hero of the Andromeda Initiative. The Nexus has failed us before, Kitt.”

“But I haven’t! Not once!”

“No, you haven’t,” he conceded. “In the end, you are still a hand of the Initiative. How could I have known they wouldn’t force your decision once you knew both players on the field?”

“I’m not Tann’s pawn. Goddamnit, Reyes!” The tears tugged at the corners of her eyes. It was too early. She had to bite her lip to choke them back. Trying to breathe, she closed her eyes and placed a hand over them, trying to find the words that would come next. There was nothing. She came up empty. 

In the silence that followed, Reyes finally stood from his seat, crossing past her to collect the bottle of whiskey before it met the same fate as his tumbler. For lack of glassware, he took a draw straight from the bottle, then offered it to her. “I tried to apologize, Kitt. It fell on deaf ears.”

“What did you expect?” She put her hand up to keep him away and turn down the whiskey in one motion. “You promised me that you wouldn’t be like the Nexus. You promised you wouldn’t use me, or keep things from me.”

“I have never pretended to not be a liar.”

“But you didn’t have to lie to  _ me. _ ” Kitt needed to sit down now, or she might collapse from the overwhelming pain in her chest. After everything they’d been through, everything they’d done together, he openly admitted to purposefully keeping the truth from her. Apologies didn’t matter at this point.

So many “what if’s” passed through her mind. If she hadn’t been emotionally invested in Reyes, would she have chosen him during that duel? If she had been a neutral party, would she had let Sloane die again? Or would she had saved her? If Kitt had been stronger, could she have stopped that sniper and faced Reyes to settle things in a civil manner?

“Tell me one thing… and be  _ honest _ , or I might just have to shoot you.”

“No promises.” The seething glare she lifted in his direction made him raise his hands and back off. “Alright. No lies.”

“If I had stopped your sniper… instead of letting him shoot Sloane… what would you have done? What would have happened?”

Sighing seemed to be a common trend whenever she asked him something he didn’t like. “If Sloane had survived, Kadara Port would still belong to the Outlaws, and a war between the Outlaws and the Collectives would destroy the planet, and any Outpost the Initiative would have settled.”

“I didn’t ask about the collective. I asked about you.”

The question seemed to sink deep into his gut, turning that normally suave demeanor into something uncomfortable, almost anxious. It made her wonder if he’d keep this promise, or if he would toss it out the airlock like the last promise he made her. “Kitt. Don’t ask me that.”

“I asked. Now say it.”

He shifted uncomfortably, taking another long draw from the bottle in his hands, until it seemed to empty. “My work would have gotten significantly more difficult. Tartarus would no longer be a haven. The Collective would be at risk. All of my attentions would have to be focused on recovering whatever ground we would have lost from my miscalculations.”

“So you expected me to stand by and let Sloane die?”

“Hoped.”

“And if I hadn’t? What would happen to us?”

“Kitt.” Reyes’ voice was stern. It was a sore spot. If he hadn’t wanted to answer the other question, he didn’t want to touch this one at all. Not something that bode well for the answer.

“Say it.”

He tried to get more out of the whiskey bottle, but there was nothing left, forcing the answer to be given. No more avoiding it. “Any ally of Sloane’s is an enemy of the Collective. The ceasefire order against you and your team would have been null.”

The pain in her chest might as well have been from his own pistol. It hurt. Their own relationship rode on his bet that she wouldn’t betray him. And if she had chosen to stand by Sloane, someone who had been honest to her even if it was rude, then he would let his men kill her if it came down to it.

“So it was all a sham,” she growled through grit teeth.

“I didn’t say that, Kitt-”

Her motion to stand up and leave the room cut off his words as he tried to defend himself. “I don’t need to hear anything else, Reyes. You are going to increase security on the Outpost, this isn’t a negotiation.” Swallowing her own heart, Kitt turned her back on him and strode out of the room, meeting Drack on the other side of the door.

This time, she was walking away from him on her own two feet, even if the world around her was falling apart.


	19. Meridian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> End game fluff. I already posted this one on Tumblr, but hadn't yet put it here. It's here now.
> 
> (queued to be deleted and reuploaded)

Art, again, is by [@mmmerchedesi](https://tmblr.co/mrYX04WNo8rrPU_hLeglufw)

  


Artificial silence was so… unnerving. The hum of the drive buried somewhere in the heart of the ship. The occasional drip of fluid in the IV line. Winds against the panes of the windows. The throbbing of a heartbeat behind the forehead. It wasn’t true silence, but it gave the impression. Until each noise added together. Compounded. And that throbbing beat behind her eyes made them open.

Kitt figured she should probably be dead. After everything she’s done and gone through. Chasing answers, then chasing Meridian, chasing the Archon… now there was no more chasing to be done. Just… silence. She turned her head, glancing to the only other bed in the empty room. Chris was still unconscious but he looked at peace. The bruises were still there. But the rise and fall of his chest was proof enough he was still alive.

_“Good morning, Pathfinder.”_

The familiar dense tone of SAM’s voice in her head was comforting. “It doesn’t much look like morning to me,” she mumbled, glancing out the window of the room. “I can still see stars-- SAM, why are there stars? We’re still on the Hyperion, aren’t we?”

_“We are indeed, Pathfinder. The Earth equivalent of Meridian’s day-night cycle would put the time at approximately 2 o’clock in the morning.I can only speculate the process through which the Jardaan created the illusion of stars within Meridian.”_

“But they are an illusion?”

_“They are.”_

“That’s all I need.” With a groan, she pushed herself to sitting. The two of them were, indeed, alone. It wasn’t medbay, nor was it her father’s old quarters. It wasn’t anywhere she remembered being on the Hyperion. “SAM, where exactly are we?”

_“Doctor T’perro thought it best if you two were allowed to recover in quiet. Doctor Carlyle agreed.”_

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

_“You are in a modified residential suite of the upper wing.”_

It made sense at least. And she was quite thankful for it. Doctors fussing and getting in her way all the time. Even if it was in her best interest, she didn’t want to put up with it. This was infinitely better. “Do me a favor, SAM? Don’t tell Lexi or the others I’m awake. I’d… like to enjoy myself for a bit before they come barging in.” Every fibre of her being screamed in pain as she swung each leg over the side of the bed.

_“I do not recommend this course of action, Pathfinder. I can artificially manage your heart rate so as not to alert Doctor T’perro, but moving could cause more damage to your person.”_

“Hush it, SAM. I know what I’m doing.” The window wasn’t far. All she had to do was make it over there. Then the railing could offer her the support she needed. As she inched her way towards the foot of her bed, she noticed a blue blip out the corner of her eye. A datapad by her brother’s bedside had lit up. Why did it have to be so far away? “Just one foot in front of the other…” Kitt muttered to herself, putting significant weight on the bed for support.

Stretching just a bit too far on her weak muscles sent her to one knee - the force of the fall sending a striking pain through her bones. “Owww…” No comment from SAM. Sometimes that AI does listen. Gritting her teeth to find the strength to stand, she finally managed to make those few steps to retrieve the datapad. It was Chris’ medical records. A summary of his past before they left the Milky Way, and comprehensive data since the issue with his cryopod back by Habitat 7.

Through sheer force of will and true Ryder stubornness borne of their Father’s training, Kitt found the will and the way to make it to the window. Even if Lexi scolded her for it later, the view was worth it. The world extended out, and up into the black. There was no horizon, because one didn’t exist. The artificial starlight filtered through the atmosphere shielded windows of the Hyperion, speckling her skin in blue light. It was… beautiful.

“We did it, Dad…” she smiled, knowing that everything they had done, everyone they’d lost, hadn’t been in vain. There were challenges ahead still, sure. But for now, they had won. Heleus was safe. The angara were allies. And the Initiative had recovered. Everything her father had wanted, had dreamed for, was arched out across this new landscape. Meridian.

Smiling with that pleasant satisfaction swelling in her chest, Kitt turned her attention down to the datapad in hand. She’d read most of it already, but there was new information. Scans and numbers relating to the damage that had been done by the Archon. It was bad, sure, but he’d recover. Just like she did. It was just another bump in the road.  
  


As she perused the data, she heard the door to the room hiss open. “SAM, I thought I told you not to call Lexi?” Kitt groaned, shoulders slumping as she leaned against the rail more.

“He didn’t.”

Her heart drummed in her ears. Butterflies erupted in her stomach. If her knees hadn’t already been weak on their own, they may have started to shake. Kitt glanced over and saw him step through the dark. “Reyes…”

“You look like you’re waiting for someone.” The look she gave him only made him laugh. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Are you feeling alright?”

Oh, what she wouldn’t just give to scold SAM for that treachery. He hadn’t called Lexi, no, he followed that order like the good AI he was supposed to be. But he’d learned too much from Kitt. He had found her loophole. Even if he’d never said it explicitly, she knew that blasted computer liked Reyes too. That part was probably her fault too.

Turning a hint of red, Kitt looked back to the datapad in her hand. Her memories from the cave in Draullir still burned in her heart. Things weren’t as bad as they were then… but she still hadn’t really spoken to him, let alone seen him since then. It was surprising in itself that he showed up to help her at all. And now he was standing here. With her. Alone. Sort of… Chris didn’t really count.

The silence of the room broke as he walked towards her. There were no words, and he didn’t dare step close enough to make her shy away. Reyes knew she still hurt, and it was clear he didn’t want to push the limits of her forgiveness. There were no words that followed his steps. He just leaned against the railing and watched her quietly. No begging. No pleading apology. No desperate attempts to be taken back. Just an accepting silence.

Try as she might to ignore the fact that he was standing there, Kitt couldn’t last long. His presence alone was demanding of attention. There were things her body remembered that her mind had tried to ignore. Things her heart wanted that she had buried. Of course he knew her well enough that he was fully aware of her internal conflict. The space he gave her was evidence enough of that. But it didn’t stop her from side glancing to see if he was still watching her. He was. Each and every time.

Like a clock ticking in her forehead, his gaze finally made her snap. “Alright, what do you want? What is it? Why are you here?”

Reyes didn’t give her a word of response. All he did was extend a hand to her. His stature was soft, relaxed. Whatever he had planned, she couldn’t see it. Words made more sense than this.

“Well? Say something.”

“Please?”

Please what? Please forgive him? Please take his hand? Please look past all his flaws and see him for what he wanted to be? Please remember the good times and know that he meant them? Please know that he never meant to lie to her, to hurt her in that way? His eyes said yes, yes to it all. Kitt’s heart drummed in her chest. She knew she didn’t care what he was, or who. What he did was his own business. She just… had to wonder if the lies would stop. Through it all, Reyes waited patiently for her answer, watching as her eyes darted between him and his extended hand.

Maybe she would blame it on SAM later, and his keenness for the smuggler, but the moment she set that datapad down and took his hand was all her own free will. Her own voiceless acceptance of _him_. That same hand gave her a quick tug, landing her face first into his chest on her own weak legs. “You’re such an ass…” she mumbled into the cushion of his light armor, her other arm wrapped around his waist to keep from falling.

“At least I’m handsome, right?” When she looked up, there was a glimmer of amusement in his eyes.

“Your one redeeming quality,” she groaned as he helped her stand up more properly, though still pressed heavily against him for support. It didn’t go unnoticed that the way they stood was all too familiar to the way old, cheesy dates used to go. Kitt dreaded the possibility. “I hope you don’t expect me to do the waltz with you. I’m not exactly dancefloor ready with these legs. More likely than not I’ll just fall.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll hold you.” The grasp around her waist firmed in a reassuring way. “SAM?”

For a second Kitt was about to question him why he called on the AI, but when the speakers filled her artificial silence with music, she knew better than to ask. Apparently the smuggler had a few tricks to teach her permanent companion. “You two planned this all along, didn’t you?”

Reyes laughed a little, pulling her with him as he stepped and swayed lightly. It was gentle. Enough to make her heart swell with emotion, but not so much that her knees felt like they’d give out from under her. Having him there to hold her certainly did help. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Kitt shook her head but allowed herself a light laugh. There was certainly a reason why he had wormed his way into her heart, even with all the lying and scheming. Now he seemed intent on reminding her of how he’d gotten there in the first place.

Not that it was a bad thing. She needed this little freedom. Some peace from all the chaos. A… sort of personal celebration for all the hardships she had struggled through with her team. There would never be real forgiveness for his secrets, but maybe she could look past them. Move on. Find that happiness only he seemed to offer her.

Soft sweeping crescendos of strings and brass lulled Kitt into a sense of calm, leaning against him as they swayed. Her eyes closed, letting everything else fall away. The only thing that existed was them, and their music.

“Things are different now, Ryder,” he finally broke the silence between them. It was a conversation that was bound to happen since they stood in the same room together, tension building. An unavoidable outcome. “I’m not going to pretend differently, nor should you. The only thing I want now is for you to understand.”

“Lying about being the mob boss of a vying power in Kadara is a pretty big thing, Reyes,” she scolded, but never pulled away from him. “It’s… kind of hard to look past.”

“I don’t want any more secrets between us, Ryder. Before, my survival depended on them because there were only so many I could trust. I trust you, Kitt.”

“You trust me?” A laugh erupted before she could stop it. “You’re the encrypted one, Reyes. Not me.”

It was his turn to laugh now. Only this one sounded more like he had his own personal inside joke that she didn’t know. “I’m afraid to ask.”

“It’s nothing. I was about to say something cheesy.”

Oh, she knew she’d regret this one. “Say it.”

Reyes paused their swaying just long enough to tilt her chin up with a finger, . “Consider me hacked.”

Instant regret. Kitt groaned and nudged him with her shoulder to make him start moving again, breaking their eye contact. “You’re not allowed to talk anymore.” He just laughed harder. Sometimes she just couldn’t with him. The jokes and the dramatic flair. But that’s what made Reyes who he was, and she didn’t want him to be anyone else. “I know you’re not going to be able to tell me everything… hazard of the job, I guess. I just… I don’t want you to have to lie to me, okay? Can I ask that much?”

The relief she felt at his nod was indescribable. “That much I can do. And Ryder?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

It was her turn to pause their dance and look at him. “All I’ve done is yell at you and demand things of you. What is there to thank me for?”

“You are quite the demanding woman, you’re right.”

“Reyes.” She nudged him again.

“Alright!” His arm tightened around her, keeping their bodies tugged close. If Kitt didn’t need to hear what he had to say, she might have gone ahead and kissed him. It’d been too long. “I wanted to thank you for accepting me. Even with your demands, you have made me someone.” She didn’t have to make that first move as his fingers cupped her jaw, leaning in to brush his lips against hers in a kiss that made her heart skip a beat just like it did that one evening on Kadara.

Maybe things _could_ be just like before… even if only for a little while. 


	20. Sharing a dessert - prompt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> End game, during epilogue party.
> 
> (queued to be deleted and reuploaded)

“Jaal just said someone opened up an ice cream parlor, come on!”

That was the only warning presented before the still freshly recovered Kitt Ryder grabbed his hand and dragged him through the lackluster party that was supposed to be occupying the Habitation deck of the Hyperion. Reyes had tried to warn her to slow down, but in typical Ryder family fashion, she didn’t listen.

Plenty of others gave them the strangest looks, clearly finding it odd that the Pathfinder was dragging a Kadara Smuggler between decks, but there was nothing he could do to stop her at this point and just enjoyed the ride. It was better than the drab party they were leaving behind. Their trip to the storage room had been a start… but wherever they were headed now held promise. If Kitt was evidence of anything, it was that he had a sweet tooth.

Not too far from the habitation deck, nestled among some recently renovated sections of the ARK that had been converted into apartments for colonists, extended a line that must have held over a hundred people. Kitt swore at their luck and the most adorable of pouts crossed her lips. “We’ll be standing in this line forever…!” she complained, shoulder slumping.

Reyes coughed loudly, straightening his jacket while he said, “Don’t worry, Ryder. I’ve got this.” With an assuring clear of his throat, he slung an arm over her shoulder and strut forward with her, letting his overwhelming confidence permeate the room and drown out her mild panic. Without hesitation or a drop of sweat, Reyes led her straight to the front of the obnoxious line, and stepped in behind the person who just began their order.

Immediately behind them, the peon of a human colonists brow furrowed and they looked just about ready to give the two of them a piece of their mind. “You know, Ryder, it’s incredible what you went through for the people here,” Reyes interrupted, talking to her but subtly watching the colonist behind them. “Fighting the Archon basically one on one, risking life and limb to save the pathfinders from the Turian, Asari, and Salarian - just for them to come in and save Dunn and the rest of the colonists from what would have surely been a catastrophic crash otherwise.”

“Reyes,” she cursed under her breath, red in the face. “What are you doing?!”

“You deserve some time off! It’s too bad Tann and the others won’t give it to you. I supposed a simple ice cream cone will have to do.” Realizing just who it was standing in front of them, the colonist thought better of their thought to argue, and took a step back into line. No others were willing to step forward and argue with the one who had saved all of their lives over a simple spot in line.

With a grin, Reyes glanced down at Kitt, but she just looked at him with a frustrated frown. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Of course I did. I, for one, am not willing to wait for one hundred others. Luckily for both of us, you’re the Hero of Heleus.”

She just groaned and rolled her eyes, stepping in front of him to get her ice cream first. Chocolate with sprinkles - somehow that didn’t surprise him. For a lack of options - something he’d have to correct when ice cream finally made it to Kadara - he settled with a simple chocolate. Even if they had abused her power as Pathfinder for a moment, the sour taste of it seemed gone when she had her first ice cream cone in over 600 years.

“God, it’s like heaven…” she moaned. “I’d kill to have a parlor on every corner of every street on every planet! Nothing is better than ice cream.”

“Nothing?” He teased her with a nudge of his elbow as he ate his own.

With a playful huff, Kitt swung her hips into his. It was just unexpected enough to make him misstep. They both watched as the vast majority of the ice cream from Reyes’ cone tilted over the edge and fell to the floor. Several long moments passed as they both just stared down at the frozen chocolate cream goodness that had splattered all over the freshly cleaned plates. It was melting quickly, no viable chance of saving it, so much wasted potential.

“Ooooh my god, I’m so sorry! Shit, Reyes, I’ll get you a new one..!” Kitt started babbling, waving her free hand around as she tried to figure out the best way to fix this mess.

Before she sent her own dessert flying, he grabbed her wrists to calm her down, and laughed. “It’s alright. It was just ice cream. There will be more.”

She still looked so guilty, her brows furrowed up the way they always did when she was thinking too hard. Something seemed to click. “I’ve got it.” With his help, she managed to split what was left of her ice cream between hers and his empty cone. “Now we both have some.”

His heart swelled at the little smile on her lips and the way she beamed up at him. Eyes glimmering like she’d just heard the best news. Kitt never thought of herself first. Not before she had saved all of Heleus, and even still after. It would get her in trouble one day, but for now… it was just the way she was. “You’re something else,” he whispered, leaning forward to steal a chocolatey kiss.


	21. Finding the other wearing their clothes - Prompt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post Meridian/end-game, because why not.
> 
> Acts of Intimacy Prompt ♔
> 
> (queued to be deleted and reuploaded)

No trip to the Nexus was ever a simple one. In the past, it was always laced with disapproval from political heads, a brother in a coma, and occasionally a glimpse into the pain filled life of Alec Ryder, the late human Pathfinder. Now, things were only mildly better. There were fewer glares that wished the Hyperion had come sooner, less scolding from leaders who took their failures out on those around them, and no comatose brother. Even the memories of a life long lost didn’t haunt the station - they had been physically and almost literally ripped out by the Kett Archon when he had stolen the Hyperion from its docking bay.

Everything turned out in the end, at least. And without so much emotional baggage hanging over the station, Kitt was able to find _some_ rest at least. The apartment that was given to her by management for the purpose of shore leave was perfect for shutting out the outside. Perfectly slotted metal shades blocked out every last ray of light from the artificial sun lamps, the bed was a little stiff but the sheets were cleaned and pressed every time she returned, and there was a seemingly endless supply of Blast-O’s. And at this very moment, it had her favorite thing in all of Andromeda. Oh, he’d laugh if he heard that phrase come out of her mouth, but after everything they’d been through she didn’t have any better way of saying it.

This particular visit was supposed to be mostly political in nature. Moshae Sjefa, as the representative for all of the Heleus cluster, was supposed to be negotiating with Keema Dohrgun about this or that on Kadara. Whatever it was, Kitt had only been invited as a formality. Politics were not her forte and they all knew that quite well. She’d get the cliff notes at the end of the meetings.

Right now, though… she had other things to worry about. Namely, the fact that Reyes kept stealing her sheets. With limited power, and still so many to wake up, there was a maximum thermostat allowance of 18°C, and that was just far too cold. Skin to skin, sharing body heat had been nice, but now he was just being an ass.

“You bloody lecher…” Kitt mumbled through a sleepy haze, trying to yank back _anything_ from his grip. It had been a tug of war most of the morning so far - assuming it even was morning. The clock that normally blinked with the Galactic Standard Time was face down on the floor after the night before. “Give me something…!”

The bastard rolled across the bed, winding up whatever amount of sheets she had freed around his body even more. “Acquiring goods is my specialty. Can you afford my fees?”

Kitt groaned and smacked him with a pillow, smothering the laugh that followed, and kicking him back across the bed while she gave the sheets another pull. The cocoon he had spun partially came undone. “I’m freezing! Stop being an ass!”

“The Pathfinder surely can afford my finders fee. A special customer like you certainly deserves a discount.” Kitt was having none of his attitude this morning, she wanted to sleep before being stuck in a meeting room for most of the day! Groaning with effort, she wrapped her hands around the sheet, giving it as hard of a tug as she could managed. It backfired. Reyes moved across the bed with the fabric, pinning her under his weight with a smirk. “Tsk tsk, Pathfinder. That’s stealing.”

“You stole them first!”

“Of course I did. It’s my job.” The heat in their immediate vicinity skyrocketed, his lips diving for her neck, quickly assaulting every inch he could reach. “Perhaps we can compromise… There are other means of payment.”

She groaned, hand firm on his chest to push him off, though part of her didn’t particularly want to. “Reyes…”

It didn’t discourage him in the least bit. Not that she really expected it to, but all she wanted was her sheets back! “Mmm, maybe more negotiating is in order.” He always knew how to draw paths on her skin that lit up like lightning, raising her hair on end and sending shivers down through her toes. Calloused hands smoothed over the gentle hills of her stomach, wrapping their way around her thighs, pulling her closer with a gentle nudge.

“This isn’t negotiating,” Kitt grumbled into his hair as he continued to kiss her neck. “This is called cheating.”

“Same thing.”

The room was too dark for her to see the glint in his eyes that she knew was there. Her only senses that gave her any indication of his actions was his touch and the sound of his lips on her skin. She may as well be blindfolded.

“Reyes.” Her voice started firm, but the name caught in her throat when he brushed his fingers over the sensitive skin of her inner thigh. But she was stubborn. Crossing her legs restricted all his access to his best means of ‘negotiation’. “You’re not going to win.”

“Now _that_ is cheating.”

“You’re the sheet thief, apparently so intent on never letting me sleep. Either for one reason or another. By the power of the Pathfinder and the Andromeda Initiative, you will give my sheets back to me before I freeze to death in this room.” With a loud huff she crossed her arms over her chest. It registered after the fact that he probably couldn’t see any better than she could, and the stance would be lost to the dark of the room.

He groaned loudly, his weight falling beside her on the bed, causing her to bounce slightly. “Fine, fine. You can have some of them back.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.” There was always a caveat to his promises, that much Kitt had learned since the first time she met him on Kadara. The underlying condition to his promise this time was a worthy sacrifice. Reyes settled in against her side, pulling the mussed up sheets over both their naked bodies to chase away the cold of the room. Didn’t mean she couldn’t turn his own little game against him.

Once the smuggler had seemingly gotten comfortable against her, Kitt put her weight into his shoulder and pinned him to his back, sitting straddled across his waist. “Now it’s you that needs to pay me for my troubles,” she purred, gently dragging her nails down his chest.

His hands tightened on her thighs. “How the tables have turned.”

Before either of them could move another muscle, SAM interrupted their play with a broadcast message over her omnitool. _“Pathfinder, there is someone at the door. Their security clearance has given them access.”_

Kitt and Reyes both cursed, rolling off opposite sides of the bed and scrambling to find their clothes in the dark. It was too hard to see and figure out what clothes were which in her hands. Fumbling around in the dark wasn’t one of her finer skills. She found what felt like pants, finding two legs and hoping it wasn’t Reyes’ shirt and she’d just missed the telltale hole for the neck. Across the room it didn’t sound like he was having much luck either.

They only had a few moments before the door to the bedroom hissed open, flooding it with light from the outside. Kitt covered her eyes once she got a shirt on over her head, turning away from the blinding brightness until her eyes adjusted.

“Well, well. Reyes Vidal. Shouldn’t you be on Kadara?” The familiar trill to the Angara that had long since been a friend to Reyes made both of them ease, only slightly. The Nexus still wasn’t entirely aware of their shared feelings, but Keema had long since known what would happen. One of the few. She wouldn’t have been surprised at all to see Reyes standing beside the bed in almost nothing.

“There are always two sides to negotiations, Keema. You of all people should know that. I am simply here to follow up on my end of things.”

“By taking the Pathfinder to bed when she’s supposed to be meeting with myself and the Moshae?”

“ _Negotiating,_ ” he emphasized again. Kitt rolled her eyes at him but couldn’t help the smile that crossed her face.

The angaran woman sighed, shaking her head at them both. “Well, I hope you have finished ‘negotiating’, because my negotiations were supposed to begin an hour ago.”

Just thinking about it made the stress settle in her neck. Giving it a quick rub and rolling her shoulders, she just sighed and said, “I guess I should be going, then.”

Keema nearly laughed. “Oh, my dear, you’re not going anywhere looking like that. Not unless you want everyone to know who you’ve been in bed with.” Laughter burst forth from Reyes before she even had a chance to look down at herself. It finally registered why he hadn’t gotten dressed. Because _she_ had found his clothes in the dark. She was wearing them.

Pressing her fingers into her eyes, a pained sigh was the only noise she could make that seemed to fit the situation, while the other two simply chuckled between themselves. “And now I’m going to go find my corner and quietly die of embarrassment.”

“Not all is lost, Ryder. I’ll have the pleasure of undressing you again.”

“Ah, ah.” Keema stopped him before he could take a step. “There will be no more negotiating between the two of you. I need the Pathfinder more than you do. I’ll expect to see both of you outside shortly.”

So much for making the best out of the situation.


	22. Royalty of Kadara

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I blame @Vorchagirl and @mmmerchedesi for this one, entirely. All their fault.
> 
> another take on my last prompt of "finding the other wearing their clothes"
> 
> (queued to be deleted and reuploaded)

Art by [@mmmerchedesi](https://tmblr.co/mrYX04WNo8rrPU_hLeglufw)

  


The slums of Kadara never quite saw sunlight. Sometime around noon, the slightest bit of day would lighten up the otherwise dreary cavern, but otherwise the only light was artificial. It eased the hangover induced migraines of those coming or going from the ‘crown jewel’ of the slums: Tartarus. Each drink to drown away the pain of another day on a planet still stained by Sloane’s outlaws. The alcohol never stopped flowing, and the bartender would mix whatever you liked. The whiskey wasn’t as fine as Kralla’s but the atmosphere made up for it.

At least, that was the excuse Reyes Vidal used when he chose to take up residence there. It was easy to hide, to work under the radar, and anyone worth knowing would wander in at some point or another. He had an arrangement with the bartender that made things even easier. Something that benefited both parties.

“Looking a little rough around the edges, aren’t we, Vidal?” Kian chided the man when he finally entered the bar through the lower door. Reyes grunted, rubbing his eyes to will away his own personal hangover. The night before had been… well, he certainly wouldn’t forget it anytime soon. “Missing something?” The man’s light accent jarred his thoughts before he could quell the headache with alcohol.

The object in question was the vest he typically wore over his armor. It allowed him to blend in with the other exiles, and yet differentiate himself when necessary. “It seems to have been misplaced.” He tapped the bar, receiving his customary bottle of whiskey before he would head up the stairs to his private room.

It was an uneventful day, as things typically had been on Kadara since Sloane and her ilk had been removed from the port. Most of his men in the Badlands still had the occasional scuffle with scattered Outlaws, but nothing worth worrying about. It left his terminal empty, and his encrypted omnitool only slightly less so. It made the whiskey go down easy.

Some hours into his lazy day, and perhaps half of his bottle, something more urgent came to his attention.

 

_I need to discuss something with you immediately. Please come up to Outcast HQ - and can we please start calling it something else? Sloane no longer lives here. Don’t dally._

_Keema Dohrgun_

 

Very rarely did the angaran woman ever frame something with the term “immediately”. Whatever this important matter was he would have to chide Keema for using his Tartarus terminal. It was the least secure mode of communication he had access to. Now that he thought about it, it was strange for her to message him at all. Normally things would wait until they would meet up personally to discuss political matters. Nonetheless, she must have a reason for it.

It seemed a shame to leave a half finished bottle of whiskey behind, especially since it was one of Kian’s better bottles, so he decided to tuck it against his side and bring it along with.

Reyes was allowed into the building that once served as the base of operations for the Outlaws without question. Those close to Keema knew to never question who he was - just to allow him inside whenever he requested. Beyond the doors, he found his way to the throne room, and was greeted with only darkness. Unusual.

“Games were never your specialty, Keema. This is unlike you,” he called out to the seemingly empty room. Behind him, the door closed, and he was left in the dark. Even as his eyes started to adjust, all he could see was the subtle outline of a figure lounging across the ‘throne’ against the back wall. Whoever it was didn’t respond.

It felt as though he were seeing ghosts. Like this figure in front of him was the spectre of Sloane Kelley, come back to haunt him and take its revenge. Following his instincts, he let his hand drift down to the Sidewinder on his hip, just in case. Bit by bit, his eyes began to adjust more, almost enough to see details on the figure. Was that… his jacket…?

The figure pressed a single button on the console built into the throne. The window shades snapped open, flooding his eyes with light, enough that he had to turn away. Heat from the setting sun beyond settled on his skin, though when he turned back, there was a different kind of heat rising in his face.

Sitting upon the throne of Kadara, rightfully his, was Kitt Ryder in all her wondrous glory. Wearing none other than his jacket - and apparently nothing else. The way she draped herself across the seat, toes twirling bored little circles, her fingers tracing lines in the leather. “You’re late.”

“And you are certainly not Keema. I take it that she was not the one who sent that message.”

“Maybe… maybe not. Does it matter?”

“From here, it certainly seems not.” In a few quick strides, Reyes crossed the room to her. Just a single step from the throne, and her, she stuck a foot out and forced him to stop.

Those hungry eyes never quite left him. “Ah, ah. Your Queen demands you kneel.”

Reyes cocked an eyebrow, a smirk gracing his lips. “My Queen?”

“You’re the King of Kadara now, aren’t you? You wouldn’t be here without me…” Her foot traced down the seams of his armor, stopping only just too soon at the edge of his belt. “I’d say that makes me Queen. And now I say you kneel.”

“As Her Majesty wishes,” the laughter was clear in his voice as he slowly knelt, still too far to do little more than brush his hands over her smooth legs, as desperate as he was for more.

Pulling her leg back, she sat up more properly, parting her legs as she faced him. Without a doubt, his stolen vest was the only article of clothing on her body, and she seemed so intent on using it to her distinct advantage. “Come closer - ah, I did not tell you to stand. You will stay on your knees until I tell you otherwise.” Her hands beckoned him until he was situated properly between her legs. Their eyes were locked, little secrets whispered wordlessly between them, their breaths speaking silent desires needing fulfillment. This behavior was unusual for her - but not necessarily unwanted.

Her hand went to his hair, at first delicate as she stroked her fingers through his normally so well kept strands, until his hands wandered too close to their intended target between her legs, and she took a handful and gave it a tug. The sudden jolt of pain made him hiss though a dark laugh was quick to follow. “Whiskey,” she demanded, holding her other hand out, still keeping a firm grasp on his hair.

Though he offered it, he tugged it back at the last second before she could take hold. “Surely Her Highness is aware this throne belongs to me.”

“Of course it does,” she smirked, grasping the neck of the bottle firmly, letting go of his hair so she could take a draught right from the bottle, “but for now, it belongs to me. And so do you.”

“What happens if I object?”

The devious grin that crossed her face sent chills straight down his spine. Perhaps he could get used to this. “You won’t.” 

Kitt didn’t give the bottle of whiskey back, nor did she set it aside, instead she did something entirely different and unexpected. Without breaking that eye contact, she poured the contents down over her chest, letting it flow down her body, until it pooled between her legs. She licked her lips, watching him eagerly. “Now drink.”

Oh, he did. He drank every last drop. The mix of whiskey and her musk drove him to devour every last inch of her, until she became not just the Queen of Kadara, but  _ his  _ Queen. His alone.


	23. Hope We Don't Get Caught - prompt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A "hope we don't get caught" kiss prompt. 1 drabble for 1 follower on tumblr.
> 
> Not sure the placement in the timeline, so I'm tacking it on at the end.
> 
> (queued to be deleted and reuploaded)

The Tempest was sitting in a quiet orbit around Kadara. According to the Pathfinder, it was quieter there. Scientifically speaking sound couldn’t travel in the vacuum of space so it wasn’t wrong, but there was also the fact that they got fewer requests when they were in orbit than when they are docked. It gave her time to take a nap in the Nomad without interruption - but no one was supposed to know she was in there. They all did at this point, but no one mentioned it, instead just let her sleep.

Quiet though space may be, not everything runs smoothly. Some of the scheduled scans were coming back with odd readings, something they’d seen before. But their weight readings had been normal before leaving the port. These numbers wouldn’t come from a worker’s exosuit being welded into the hull like the last time they had extra weight. “SAM, could you do a full scan of the Tempest’s systems, please? Check for any anomalies and establish the accuracy of this weight.”

No response.

“SAM?”

_ “Of course, Doctor Anwar. A moment, please.”  _ The shipboard AI went quiet for a moment before his voice returned to the bridge.  _ “All systems are functioning normally. Please disregard the mass discrepancy.” _

Odd. But Suvi couldn’t well argue when Kallo reiterated the point, “I concur. Everything is running normally from over here.”

“Could you pass the report on to the Pathfinder? Just to be safe.”

_ “Of course.” _

The file never reached the destination of the Pathfinder’s console. There was no new blip on her omnitool indicating the message, or buzz of SAM’s voice in her head telling her she had unread messages. Just the sweet silence and peace of the Nomad’s back seat; Kitt’s favorite place. It offered a sleep so deep that she missed the dinner bell.

When Kitt finally did wake up, her bones popped as she stretched her way back out, noting that there was noone to be seen. Vetra wasn’t at her station checking the Nomad’s system, Cora wasn’t checking their stock, Liam wasn’t lounging on his crates. Even Gil didn’t seem to be hovering just outside of Engineering.

“Where is everyone?” she asked over her omnitool comm.

“Dinner, sleepyhead. We’ll save you a bite, but you better hurry. Vetra’s hogging it all.”

“Hey! No Blast-O’s for you, Harper!”

Kitt laughed, hearing the banter in the background. Just like a little family. She started to head the direction of the galley when she heard something shift among their crate of supplies. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end, and she didn’t have a gun to defend herself with. Kallo would scold her later but biotics were the only thing she had if someone or something was on board. Her hand and eyes glowed blue with anticipation.

A few steps towards the crates where she thought she heard the noise and Kitt stopped herself. What was she doing? This was stupid. Of course there was no one on the ship. SAM and Suvi were constantly monitoring the systems, and neither of them had said anything to her. Sure, she’d been sleeping for a few hours, but even then SAM would have badgered her about unread emails or something. Huffing at her own tense nerves, she turned and headed back towards the galley.

The press of a cold barrel against the back of her neck made her freeze. Bad situation. Bad, bad, bad. Kitt swallowed hard, running her options through her head and coming up empty. Whoever this was probably didn’t want her dead, or she would be already, but they might not  _ need  _ her alive or they wouldn’t be threatening her with a gun. Any sudden movements and they might well pull the trigger. SAM was her only hope - but he was stubbornly quiet.

“SA--” The pistol, she assumed it was, pressed harder into the back of her neck. So that didn’t work. And the AI  _ still  _ hadn’t responded. If he’d notified the crew, she’d have seen them by now. “Alright, alright. Not talking to the AI or the crew. So why don’t you just tell me what you want?”

The person’s breath tickled the back of her neck as they leaned in, sending chills down her spine. “You.”

“Reyes?!” Kitt spun on her toes, nearly smacking the smuggler when she saw that sleazy, confident smirk on his face. In his hand wasn’t a gun, but a military grade nutrition bar he’d likely stolen from one of her own crates.

“Were you expecting someone else?”

One quick shove to put him back against the crates was enough to shut him up. Her body quickly followed, pinning him there as her lips quickly found his, the force of the kiss pushing his head back into the boxes. A little too hard. “Ow, watch it, Ryder,” he laughed, reaching back to rub his head as she backed off.

“Shit, sorry!”

Reyes didn’t seem to mind the rough play, the smirk still playing on his lips as his hands held her close, keeping her from stepping too far off. “Eager, aren’t we?”

“Oh, shut up.” She swatted his arm, but let him pull her in tight, relishing the warmth he offered. “What are you even doing here?”

“Is it so hard to think that perhaps I wanted to see you?”

“And you managed to get on the Tempest without anyone seeing you?”

That made him laugh. “I am no novice. People are just as easy to move as cargo. Especially when that person is myself.”

“So you smuggled your way onto my ship?” He didn’t say no. Kitt groaned and rolled her eyes. “You’re horrible, you know that?” How he got there didn’t matter. What did matter was the fact that somehow he’d gotten himself onboard and everyone else was busy.

Reyes seemed to be of the same mindset, his expression softening as he traced her jaw with a finger, leaning in to capture her lips in a gentler kiss than before. The smell of Tartarus lingered on his clothes; the smoke, the sweat, the whiskey, all things she had grown to desire. It pulled her deeper into his embrace, letting it fill her head with memories and images of the bar, their quiet place, their safe haven. He took the breath straight from her lungs, fighting with her tongue for control, letting the aftertaste of his liquor of choice mingle between them.

The hissing of a door grabbed both of their attentions, but it was Reyes who acted faster, yanking the both of them back behind the crates into the shadows. Somehow this felt oddly familiar. Kitt was pressed firmly against his chest as they both glanced around the corner to watch Vetra enter the cargo hold. There was no indication that she knew either of them were there. All she did was mutter to herself as she entered her room, then exited with a box of Blast-O’s.

Almost getting caught by her own crew added a little extra thrill to their encounter. She yanked on his collar, grabbing a fist full of his hair as she pressed against him for another kiss, bumping the crates slightly. The muffled noise made Vetra pause on the far side of the cargobay, searching the room before she exited again. Kitt nibbled on his lower lip when they heard the door hiss open and closed again. They were alone.

“No one else knows you’re here, do they?” she purred, straightening his jacket playfully.

“Well…”

“SAM doesn’t count.”

“Then no. No one else knows, thanks to our mutual friend.” Of course he meant SAM. Somehow the AI had developed a soft spot for the smuggler, and always seemed eager to help the two of them see each other again. This wouldn’t be the last time. Kitt wouldn’t be one to waste this opportunity.

“SAM, do me a favor and lock the door to the galley for about ten minutes.”

_ “Of course, Pathfinder. What shall I tell the others if they wish to leave?” _

Kitt threw her tank top over her head with a grin. “Just say Pathfinder’s orders. I’ve got business to take care of.”

That business, of course, was one Reyes Vidal.


End file.
